Incipient
by Incandescent-Lies
Summary: Roxas feels like a nobody stuck in the daily routine, where each day fades into the next and leaves him feeling hollow. But when his cousins and aunty move in next door he finally begins to exist for more than just the next day.
1. Silence broken

Summary: Roxas feels like a nobody stuck in the daily routine, where each day fades into the next and leaves him feeling hollow. But when his cousins and aunty move in next door he finally begins to _exist _for more than just the next day. And things can only get better right?

Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx all that good stuff and more when it comes up yeah

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own v.v'

Notes: _Hi everyone! It's story time again! XD YAY! I am still writing Destiny University but this is another story which I am writing for one of my friends. It was originally going to be quite dark and all that jazz but said friend keeps changing their mind so lets see where it goes XD I don't think it's all that dark at all anymore which is fine and dandy because I don't want the lovelies from KH being too sad! LOVE YOU GUYS XD _

-Incipient-

_Incipient- beginning to exist or appear_

-1: Silence _broken- _

Silence. There wasn't anything in the world quite like it. Maybe it wasn't as calming and relaxing as listening to the sea's tide passing back and forth, in and out; and maybe it wasn't quite as thought inducing as staring out of the window and watching the rain hit the glass countless times as the heavens descended upon earth. Perhaps it didn't leave one's mind as empty as boredom; but that was a good thing right? Though silence wasn't always peaceful. Sometimes it was that eerie silence that had you on edge, the type that had you thinking something bad would happen if you move an inch to the left instead of the right. That kind of silence the dead of night gave after watching _Saw _or _The Grudge_ and the only thing your ears seem to pick up are the sounds of the stairs creaking or the branch of the tree outside hitting the window. The times you swear you can hear your own heartbeat. But of course there was also awkward silence. That silence that comes after you meet someone you haven't seen in a long time and after the initial _Hi. How are you? I'm fine. What have you been doing with yourself? _There is just the silence of recognition that you no longer have anything in common. What should I talk about now?

Any one of those silences would have been heaven to Roxas at the moment. He would have given anything for the sea and its tides, the rain hitting the glass, the empty boredom, the grudge waiting outside of his bedroom door as he listened to his own heartbeat, or even the awkward silence for an old acquaintance. Anything but the constant and never stopping (hardly even for breath) sound of his sister. His annoying, one year older than him (as he was often reminded), lively beyond belief sister. His half lidded eyes blinked a few times as the blonde female jumped up and down on the end of his bed. Her multi-braided hair swung and bounced with her every movement and the colored beads at the end of each strand hurt Roxas' _you just woke me up I hate you _eyes. Apparently she had been awake for some time. Already dressed, hyperactive and ready for the day of irritating her younger brother with no restraint. The blond male sat up and stifled a yawn as he gazed out of the window that the hyper female so graciously opened for him. What was the time anyway?

"MORNING ROXY! GET UP!" Rikku jumped off of her brother's bed and latched a hand onto his arm before pulling him clean off of the mattress and onto the cold, hard and awaiting floor. Oh how Roxas loved the mornings. Loved them like hole in his head.

"What's the time?..." He stayed on the floor in the same position he had landed with no intention of moving any time soon. Yeah, he was just stubborn like that.

"It's already ten! They'll be here in two hours so get ready damnit!"

Rikku left him lying on the floor dead to the world as she exited his bedroom and closed the door. Waking up her brother was one of her favourite times of the day next to poking Roxas at breakfast, embarrassing Roxas at school and telling any one who had a remote interest in the boy that he was a convicted rapist who got his comeuppance in jail after dropping the soap a few to many times. Whether the made up stories were even half believable or not, Rikku didn't care. It amused her none the less.

"In two hours?" Roxas repeated to himself and sat up straight. Oh yeah. The thought in general made him feel a little sick if he was honest with himself. Them moving in would bring more noise, he didn't even want to think about it right then. His aunty and cousins would be moving in next door at noon and he would be there to help them with a smile. He was pretty good at it too, the whole smiling thing. The whole world could be weighing down on his shoulders and he could still manage a smile for the benefit of others. Whether the smile was genuine made no difference, it was there and that was all that mattered.

Deciding that sitting on the floor wasn't the most productive way to spend one's morning; Roxas got up and headed for the shower. He could hear that voice again across the hall, bright, happy and vibrant as ever. 

"Hehe Yup! Uh huh! AH! NO WAY! Oki talk to ya' later Yunie! Tell Paine I said HIIII!" Roxas' eye twitched as he heard the gentle thud of Rikku dropping her cell phone back onto her desk. He didn't dislike Rikku's friends, in fact, he actually liked Paine, but when the three were together (Rikku and Yuna in particular) he would often end up tied to a chair covered in make up and hair ties. Not his best idea on ways he could spend his Friday nights. Roxas locked the bathroom door to cut off any entry from his sister. That girl really had no respect for his personal space.

0o0o0o0

Ocean blue eyes stared lifelessly out of the window and onto the road outside. It was just so damn hot today and Roxas could think of nothing better than lazing around with his friends down at the beach. That's probably where they all were...having lazy fun...lazy fun without him. Bleh, it wasn't even noon yet and the day was turning out to be a drag.

_bzzzzzzzzzzt bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt _Roxas leant over and picked up his cell phone from the small table beside his bed. He always left his phone on silent and vibrate. Mm, there was that silence thing again. The blond stared down at the neon blue display and smiled if even a little when he saw the name on screen.

"Hey Namine." he shifted a little on his bed to get more comfortable and returned to leaning on the windowsill to stare at the road outside. "Hm? You can see me? OH!" Roxas glanced up from the road towards the top window of the house directly opposite. He raised a hand and waved at the blonde girl waving back. His best friend in the whole world, the one who was always there for him and knew what he was thinking before even he knew himself. Yeah, that was Namine. Sweet, innocent and thoughtful Namine. "What am I doing today?...um..Oh, helping my aunty and cousins move in, remember?" He laughed a little as he saw her gently slap a hand to her face in the window across the road. "Yeah of course you can help, the more the merrier right?" Roxas waved again as Namine hung up the phone and removed herself from the window with a soft smile. Maybe today wouldn't be _so _bad after all. His aunty was pretty nice...his two cousins were great too, even if one of them could rival Rikku in stupidity and the other was that cold silent type. Roxas liked the silent part at least, but sometimes the boy could be a little scary...it reminded him of his English teacher. So helping his family move into their new house _next door _wouldn't be all too bad if Namine was there.

Come to think of it, the last time he had seen his aunty and cousins was a little over a year ago when his parents had dragged him and Rikku over to Destiny Island for a week long visit. Roxas had always liked Destiny Island. It was that kind and calming sea tide of back and forth, in and out, that silence _again._ The only thing there that could break his peace was his hyperactive sister and his hyperactive cousin. He was beginning to wonder if them moving in next door was such a good idea. He already had Rikku to block out...now he would have to block out that sugar-high chocolate brownie of a cousin too. Not that he didn't like his cousin...in small doses.

Roxas was painfully dragged from his thoughts as he recognised the car pulling into next doors drive way and heard the shrill cry of excitement as his sister swung open the front door and cut across their mothers newly planted bed of flowers. _She'd be hearing about _that _later no doubt. _The blond boy was surprised (and maybe a little disappointed) that Rikku wasn't hit by the van that followed after the car. When the hell did she run into the road anyway? And WHY? Roxas cringed when his name was called to come downstairs and greet his newly arrived relatives. So with reluctance he left the sanctuary of his room and headed down towards the joyous reunion.

"Rikku! Ah you've grown so much and look how pretty you are!" Ashe continued to ramble on and on about how she couldn't believe what a beautiful young lady Rikku had become in just over a year. She hugged her precious niece who obviously loved the compliments her aunty gave. Ashe glanced over across the newly crushed flower bed to see her favourite (and only) nephew with that awkward stance she remembered oh so well. Roxas hated these family things. "Roxy, come 'ere." she beckoned him over and pulled him into her embrace next to his sister. "You've grown too, still adorably handsome." her smile was the way he remembered it. Soft and sincere despite the misdealing life had dealt to her in the previous years. The blond boy couldn't help but give a small smile in return when she smiled at him like that. It was almost inspirational. Almost.

Ashe released her two young relatives as she caught sight of her sister in law stood in the doorway with a calm expression. Just like her two children, Penelo's hair was blonde and she chose to wear it pulled into one braid which hung loosely down her back and just like Ashe, her smile was soft and sincere and almost inspirational.

Penelo chose that moment to cut across the lawn (not without noticing her squished flowers) and greeted her family. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief when his mother and aunty engaged in conversation and he was temporarily forgotten. He wasn't really in the mood for answering questions about how his life was and how school was.

_Creeeeek-BANG-THUD _

"Oww..." Both Rikku and Roxas glanced over towards the back of the Van where the commotion had come from to see a mass of chocolate colored spikes sprawled out over the pavement. Said spikes shifted a little before sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm ok- I just fell out of the van."

Roxas wondered vaguely why the boy was in the back of the van to start with. Why didn't he sit in the front like normal people? And he was talking to himself...oh right; this was normal behaviour for him.

"Hey Sora." Roxas extended a hand out towards his cousin who just stared blankly at the limb as though he was contemplating if it were edible. After a few moments, the spiky haired boy grabbed the hand and shot up to pull his similar in appearance cousin into a death defying embrace.

"OHMIGODROXASIMISSEDYOUHI!" Sora squeezed the life from the blond in his arms and upon noticing Rikku, dragged said blond over towards his sister to pull her into the same death defying embrace. "OHMIGODRIKKURIKKUHI!" Unlucky for Roxas, Rikku returned the hug full force and he was stuck in the middle.

"For Christ's sake Sora, let him go before you kill him." The front door of the van slammed shut and Roxas could just about peer through the mass of arms binding him to make out the form of his older cousin. Well, he was the same age as Rikku, but still, he was older…seventeen to be exact.

Cloud stood with an aura that demanded authority and respect, just how Roxas remembered. He found himself thinking about his English teacher again, he demanded the same with just a glance. The tall blond was every bit the beauty he had always been, even his adorably idiotic little brother, Sora would have to agree on that one. It was just an undeniable fact of life.

Both Sora and Rikku released their hold on each other and the blond boy between them and that was when Rikku noticed her other cousin. "CLOUD!" She attached herself to him and Sora joined in just for good measure.

Roxas couldn't help but be slightly amused at that; Cloud looked anything but impressed as he tried shoving the blonde and the brunette off of his form. His younger brother proved a harder task to remove than his hyperactive cousin which came to him as a slight annoyance. Unlike his cousins, Sora had spent almost every day of his sixteen years with his slightly older brother, so Rikku had more reason than him to attach herself to the tall blond male.

Once Cloud was successfully hyperactive teen free, he gave a small nod of acknowledgement towards Roxas who returned the gesture. That was the kind of greeting both boys preferred.

Ashe and Penelo were out of sight; apparently they saw a good opportunity to go inside for coffee and a catch up chat while the younger members of the family were left with moving boxes into the new house. Roxas didn't really mind too much, as long as Sora didn't pester him with too many annoying questions. Maybe said brunette didn't get the memo...

"Hey Roxy, how is school? Is Namine still your best friend? How is she anyway? Oh, and Tidus, how is he?" Quizzical cerulean orbs gazed directly into dull ones of the same color. So much for not irritating him down to the core with annoying questions.

"I'm fine Sora, my brother is too." came a soft feminine voice from behind. The brunette spun on his heels to face his cousin's best friend with a wide grin. He always did like Namine, she was just too nice not to like. "How are you and Cloud?" the female asked with a gentle smile.

It took no time at all before the small blonde was pulled into one of Sora's death grip hugs. "NAMI! I'm great thanks! Cloud is great too, happy as a hippo!"

Namine spared a glance over the boys shoulder to see his older brother heading towards the back of the van. As usual, he didn't look 'happy as a hippo'. But then again, she found herself wondering what would be defined as 'happy as a hippo'; if Cloud fit the description, then apparently the hippos weren't too happy.

When Sora finally let up on his death hug the small girl gave another of her oh so gentle smiles. It was then that Namine noticed the discontent dull look in her oldest friend's eyes. He had been like that a lot for the past few months, like something was wrong in his life or something was missing. He had become quieter than he used to be and would more often than not pass up the chance to spend the day at the beach with Namine and the rest of them. Instead, he would be in town at _Highwind, _the old bookstore. She could usually find him there reading a book with a cup of coffee or doing homework. Why he spent the majority of his summer vacation doing just that, Namine wasn't sure, but there were just two days left before they would be starting school again and Roxas had only been to the beach four times with them...

Sora pounced over towards the back of the van to start helping Cloud and Rikku pull out boxes before his brother got on his case about being lazy again. He took a box which was handed to him and headed towards the front door of the house. Who had the keys?

"Roxas?"...

Said blond glanced towards his female friend and waited for her to continue.

"Are you ok?...You look sad." all she received was a dull smile and a quiet _I'm fine. _He wasn't fine and she knew it.

0o0o0o0

Moving the boxes took up most of the day. It was getting towards nine in the evening and Sora hadn't even begun to take things out and place them around his new room, though he did manage to make Roxas push his bed into all corners of the square space to see if it looked right. After taking up each corner twice, the brunette had decided that the first was the best and surprisingly to him; his cousin didn't seem all too overjoyed at the decision as he again pushed the bed towards the other side of the room. Namine had laughed and told him to decide beforehand where he wanted the rest of his furniture. But she had gone home now, so had Rikku. (Yuna and Paine showed up and she couldn't say no to going to the movies.) Zack had showed up earlier that day too and he was quite easily Cloud's best friend. Despite having met the lively grey haired male on his occasional visits to the mainland's to see his cousins, Cloud had oddly taken to the boy almost instantly and they had been friends ever since. They kept in contact through phone calls, and the internet; in fact, the blond spent most of his time on his computer back on Destiny Island talking to his best friend. Naturally when Zack learnt that Ashe was moving them all over to the mainland's he had been little short of ecstatic. It meant he could see Cloud every day instead of once a year. They would go to school together, go to the movies, the beach...anything they wanted. It was just...great! Sora liked his brother's friend; he was genuinely a nice guy.

"Hey Sora?"

"Yeh Rox?"

"I'm going home now ok? But I'll come back tomorrow morning to help you if you'd like..?"

Sora beamed over towards his cousin and gave a quick nod. "Yeh, that'd be great, thanks Roxy! You can bring Namine too if she wants to come."

Roxas couldn't help but smile in return. Sure he could be an overly hyperactive pain in the ass at times, but Sora was a good person, a great cousin and a fantastic friend. The blond wasn't even sure anymore about why he had been so negative about them moving in next door to begin with. He was lucky to have his family so close, and even luckier that his family was one that got along so well. They had their ups and downs, but who doesn't; it just made them stronger in the end. Maybe Roxas was even...happy about having Sora next door. He noticed as he left the room that the brunette's window faced his own bedroom window. Well, that was certainly awesome.

0o0o0o0

"Yeah, her name is Aerith. She's just...really nice y'know?" Zack grinned over towards his blond friend. After they had shifted all of Cloud's boxes into his room, the grey haired teen took the liberty of sprawling out across his bed, though the bed's owner didn't seem to mind; he just moved to sit against headboard and draped his legs over Zack's stomach. The boy had a habit of taking up space, Cloud was used to it.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner." The blond threw a pillow which hit the other teen square in the face. He didn't mind that Zack hadn't told him straight away about his new girlfriend, but it would have been nice too know...even if they had only been dating a week. He was his best friend damnit! That was best friend worthy information!

The grey haired teen sat up causing the legs on his stomach to fall into his lap. He stretched out his arms with a loud yawn before leaning back on his elbows. "I didn't want to tell you straight away because I swear I thought she would have broken up with me by now. She's just so..er..perfect and I'm so me." He laughed and threw the pillow that had assaulted him back at its owner.

"So, do I get to meet miss perfect?" Cloud dodged the fluffy missile and gave a winning smile.

"Hey, a little reassurance would be nice! Like, oh Zack, you're so great, I'm sure she wouldn't leave you or just something like that."

"But I don't want to lie to you." The blond grinned at the death glare sent his way and armed himself with the pillow once more. He was just in time as he was pounced on brutally attacked by a...sock?

The bedroom door creaked open and a brunette stared quizzically at the boy assaulting his older brother with foot ware and decided that now was a better time than ever to do what he had always wanted to do! Sora pulled off the sock from his right foot and bounded across the room to jump onto the two teens and help Zack with his vengeance.

"YES! Sor's on my team now too! Quick Sora, steal his socks!" The grey teen sat on his friend's waist and held down his arms to restrain him while his younger team-mate captured their prize. Sora held the socks high and ran to the other side of the room.

"Mission accomplished captain Zack!"

"Excellent, now let us hide the treasure!" both males darted from the room in record speed leaving a very confused Cloud to ponder over his defeat. Sometimes Zack could be as bad as Sora, if not worse. The blond sat up and yawned as his door opened and Ashe walked in with a bright smile.

"Hey hunny." She said as she placed a box down onto her son's desk. "Their hiding them in a drawer in the kitchen."

"Ew.." Cloud pushed himself off of his bed and left to venture downstairs and hopefully reclaim his socks. His feet were cold now damnit.

0o0o0o0

All in all, the day hadn't been as bad as he had thought. Sora hadn't driven him insane, dare he say it, he even enjoyed the boys company. Not even Rikku had annoyed him which was a first. The conversation with his aunty Ashe hadn't been as pointless and time wasting as he originally imagined it would be. She asked questions and she listened to his answers, everything he said, with an airy smile and genuine interest in what he had to say. Roxas found himself supplying her with more than a minimal answer too. How was school? Well, it was fine actually, he liked his teachers, he liked his friends, the work wasn't too hard, but not too easy, he didn't get in trouble, but he wasn't the perfect student either. He even asked her questions in return and really listened to her answers. They had been talking for around forty five minutes and didn't stop until Basch had gotten home from work. Roxas had offered his father a brief smile before leaving to continue helping Sora. Basch was initially somewhat shocked to see a smile on his son's face, he didn't smile so often nowadays...but the thought left his head when he noticed his sister in law, Ashe and went to greet her and catch up on things.

Roxas flung himself down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. It was odd, he felt happy, he actually felt genuine happiness. Despite the feeling, he wasn't content. Sora, Cloud and Ashe had become more important in his life in just a day and for that he was glad but something was still missing. A part of him deep down was empty, hollow and looking for something more to fill it. But what Roxas wasn't aware of was the fact that he had already found the missing piece of the puzzle that was himself. The one thing that could make him complete, make him whole, make him feel like a somebody. He continued to stare at his darkening ceiling cast by the night easing it's way forth. It was then that Roxas noticed the faint light from the window his desk was pressed up against. The window of the house opposite had its curtains drawn but a dull glow of light could still be made out. The blond rolled over onto his side and thought about tomorrow. He would be helping Sora in the morning, and if all went well, maybe he could take him to _Highwind _for coffee. The light from the window opposite died. Sora must have gone to bed too.

_ZOMG YOU GUYS! XD that was fun 3 _

_Just to make sure everything is straight_

_Sora and Roxas are 16 (Only just), Cloud and Rikku are 17 (going on 18), Ashe is Sora and Cloud's mother, Penelo is Roxas and Rikku's mother, Basch is Roxas and Rikku's dad _

_SO! What has Roxas already found that he isn't aware of that can make him complete?! O_

_XD and where is Riku? And Axel? And all the other secksy bitches? You'll just have to wait and find out! XD WOO! I luff you guys! See you next time, and if you are a reader of Destiny University, I'll see you there too! _


	2. Silence reformed

Disclaimer: No ownage!

Notes: OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS! I have been suffering the worst writing block ever –pout- but I am back! Working on Incipient and Destiny University which will be updated after this is. Yus yus. How're you secksy people?

-Incipient-

-2: Silence _reformed _-

"Thanks Rox! It went so much quicker with your help!" Sora offered a cheesy grin before rolling off his bed to kneel on the floor. He looked around his now complete room and admired all of his and his cousin's hard work which took up the morning and part of the afternoon. The brunette's clothes were all in the closet or in drawers; his random necessities all had a place on either his desk or a shelf as were the DVD's. Roxas had even helped him put up some posters of his favourite bands. The room finally felt like his room; Sora's room. The brunette glanced to the end of his bed where the blonde sat with a faint smile of his own.

"It was no problem. I actually…kinda had fun helping." Roxas turned to look at his cousin, slightly awed by the fact that the usually hyperactive teen wasn't driving him to insanity. It was a welcome change from the when Sora lived on Destiny island and they would only see each other a few times a year…if that. The blonde set his sights around the room too, taking in everything they had done that morning and thinking how long it would stay that tidy. Knowing his cousin; not long.

Sora yawned and stretched out his arms before standing. He gave his pants a quick dust down with the back of his hands and turned his attention to the other male with a bright smile. "So Roxas, you promised this morning that you'd buy me coffee! Let's go!"

"Already? Not even a five minute break first?"

"Nope! C'mon."

Sora latched onto the blonde's wrist and dragged him to his feet then out of the room completely.

0o0o0o0

Cloud watched his best friend smash buttons on the PS2 controller without mercy in order to defeat the boss monster. The life gauge at the top of the TV screen slowly decreased in size with each button pressed and the blonde found himself silently impressed with Zack's ability to rant and play at the same time. But then again, the grey haired teen had always been able to beat him when it came to video games. The hero character on screen took a hit which only worked to fuel his determination to win ten fold. But it didn't stop him talking.

"School is gunna be more fun with you there Cloud. I can't believe our luck that you got put in most of my classes." _Smash Smash Smash! _The character took another hit.

"Yeh, but that is also most of Rikku's classes. So that's not so lucky." Cloud leant back against the side of his friend's bed and continued to watch the screen as if in a trance. The battle was pretty much even now.

Zack grinned but his eyes never left the game. "She's not _so _bad. Sure she can be the definition of annoying but it makes class that bit more interesting right?"

"I guess. As long as it doesn't involve me, her pranks can be funny."

"See! It's all good. Except in English class, she'd be hung if she pulled that stuff off." The grey haired teen laughed and delivered the finishing blow to his virtual enemy. He shoved the controller towards the TV and turned to face his friend.

"Tough teacher?" Cloud arched a brow when he asked his question.

"Yeah, but he's fair. You respect him, he respects you kinda thing. Piss him off and you're looking at a week's detention minimum. Just ask Rikku."

"Heh. I'll keep that in mind." That prospect didn't bother Cloud too much; after all, he never really was one to get into trouble. He just stayed relatively quiet and got his work done; not really a student that would stand out as being academically gifted or mentally challenged…the latter being a good description of Rikku. So all in all, the blonde wasn't fearful of his afternoons being spent in book club or detention, neither of the two being particularly appealing to him.

"Our math teacher, Luxord…he's a little out there but that's what makes his lessons fun." Zack laid back on his bedroom floor and stared up at the ceiling with mirth before continuing. "I lost twenty munny in his last lesson, not as bad as Rikku though, she doesn't know when to stop. Your cousin has problems Cloud!"

"You lost munny in class? And I know she has problems, she's as bad as Sora."

The grey haired teen turned his head sideways against the cool floor to look at his friend and laugh at his comment. "Yeh, he has issues too. And…I kinda lost munny gambling with Luxord."

"Gambling with the teacher?" Cloud arched both brows when looking towards Zack, confusion and disbelief evident in his blue hues. Wasn't it illegal for a teacher to gamble with his students and take their munny?

"Yeah, I said he's a little out there. He says it's a good way to learn math…all the subtracting munny from our wallets. I'm sceptical." He grinned and returned to looking back up at the ceiling. "So Cloud, no girlfriend yet?"

The blond looked slightly put out by the sudden question but answered anyway. "No and I don't really wan-"

"No girlfriend?! Well that's great because Aerith has this friend you see…Tifa, and…why are you glaring at me?"

Cloud sighed in vexation and folded his arms over his chest with a look that was annoyance all over. "As I was saying… I don't really want one."

"Why? Are you gay or something?" Zack grinned and nudged Cloud's leg with his foot. "Hmmm?"

The blonde suddenly remembered why having the other teen as a long distance friend was good for both of their healths. If Zack pissed him off, he could hang up the phone or sign off of messenger, thus saving him further mental stress or trauma; but with no way to hang up, sign off or be instantly rid of his sudden concentrated irritation, the other male was in danger of much physical pain. Which he was very close to experiencing.

"Whoa-hey don't look at me like I just ran over your pet cat with the flat tire of my car Strife! I was joking!" Zack sat up and slowly edged backwards towards his bedroom door when he noticed his friend's death glare not faltering. "If you kill me, Aerith will cry!"

"Start running now Zack Fair."

"OH SHI-"

0o0o0o0

The brunette glanced around the strange setting of that known as _Highwind_. It was, to Sora's knowledge at least, a fairly old book store with a small coffee shop in the far corner. The shelves were crammed with books of all genres, some collecting dust and most of which he had never heard of…he was usually too hyper to sit down and read anyway. The overhead lights were a little dull but it didn't really matter because the large windows near the front brought in enough light to pull off a comfortable glow on the surprisingly big on the inside store. Sora thought it would be pretty small when Roxas had pointed it out to him from across the street so upon entering he was pleasantly surprised. A few people stood scattered between the many shelves and scanning over the various books but it still wasn't very busy, nor was the coffee shop where the brunette currently sat opposite his blonde haired cousin.

Roxas took a sip of his drink with eyes glued to a book he had picked up before bringing Sora for his caffeine. Cerulean hues took in all of the information the paperback had to offer before the closing of the shop's door drew his attention towards it and more importantly, who passed through the door. The blonde's gaze followed the newcomer from his entrance right up to his exit through a staff only door on the opposite side of the room. With the object of his interest now out of sight, Roxas turned once more to his book. However, he was again interrupted by a few suspicious and obviously fake coughs from his cousin.

"What Sora?"

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

Sora nodded in the direction of the staff room door that the newcomer had disappeared through moments before. "That guy. You couldn't stop staring. I thought you'd become comatose and fall into your drink face first so I would have to rescue you before you drown or something."

"Sora…that's bizarre." Roxas knew it was a lame excuse to change the subject but it was worth a try. After all, he was talking to Sora…who had the attention span of a chimpanzee on crack. Well…most of the time. Unfortunately the brunette was particularly primate and crack free today it would seem.

"It's not bizarre Rox, it could happen. Now don't change the subject. Do you know him or something?"

"No, not really." The blonde took another sip of his drink and returned to reading the back cover of his book with a greater new found interest.

"Then what the hell was that?" Sora persisted as his curiosity got the better of him as usual.

"He…just had really weird hair so I stared. That's all." Roxas knew it was a lie, although the guy really did have odd hair. However, the part about him not knowing the man was true despite him seeing the crazy haired red-head numerous times every week. Every time he'd see him, Roxas would never know why he stared.

"Oh, ok then. He did have CRAZY hair!" Sora laughed followed by his grin. Apparently, he bought into his cousin's lie.

The blonde placed his book on the table, leant back in his chair and turned his attention towards the large window and quiet streets beyond. It felt nice—sitting and talking with Sora about nothing serious or nothing in particular; almost nostalgic regardless of never having done this with the brunette before. The whole scenario reminded Roxas vaguely of his summers on the islands; but back then, there had been more than just himself and Sora…and there was the beach instead of the old bookshop.

"Hey Sora?"

The brunette finished his drink and waited for his cousin to continue. When nothing else came and the blonde seemed fixated on the world on the other side of the glass, he decided he needed to voice that he was listening. "Yeah?"

"Let's go to the beach." Roxas looked away from the window just in time to catch the other's grin followed by a definite nod.

0o0o0o0

The ocean here was just as good as was back on Destiny Island to Sora who ditched his shoes the moment he reached the sand. Brown spikes of unruly hair bounced in rhythm with the brunette as he sprinted for the sea, his blond companion all but forgotten upon seeing the vast expanse of crystal clear blue waters ahead. And just like back home, being at the beach was just as calming as it always was. Sora moved until the water covered most of he shins before stopping and he trained his eyes on the horizon momentarily lost to the world.

"SORA! AH OH MY G-"

_Thud. Splash. _

The brunette gazed up through his now wet lashes to see the boy who had assaulted him to the ocean's gooey sand bed and was now straddling him. Eyes almost as brilliant as his own stared back before his attacker pulled him into an embrace showing no sign of caring that the growing yet gentle tide was slowly engulfing their entwined forms. Sora blinked a few times when the other boy pulled back to sit on his knees and grin down at him. The face became instantly recognisable, though a little more mature than he had last seen it.

"Nami said you moved in and I came to see you but your mum said you were out with Roxas!" the boy pouted and pushed himself back up to his feet. He offered a hand to Sora which the brunette accepted and was also brought to his feet. "I had a feeling you'd end up here." The grin returned.

"Tidus! I haven't seen you in like…" Sora paused for thought before continuing, "two years! How did you get taller than me?"

Roxas caught up to his cousin with Namine at his side and a browned haired girl who was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. She looked to Tidus, then to Sora with an unreadable expression. She blinked one. Twice. And broke out into an insanely giddy grin while attaching her self to the brunette male with what seemed to be no intention of letting go anytime soon.

"Hi! I'm Selphie; you must be Roxas' adorable younger cousin Sora. OH! You're coming to our school aren't you?! I hope you have the same classes as me or at least one or two classes that'd be awesome!"

Tidus detached the rabid girl from his friend and motioned to her discarded skipping rope lying lifelessly in the sand a few feet away. "Go skip off some sugar Selphie and stop scaring Sora."

Green eyes sparkled with mischief and Selphie ran off down the beach, rope in hand and dragging Namine along for the ride. "See you in school Sora!"

Three pairs of cerulean orbs stared after the two females and at length came to rest upon each other. Tidus rubbed the back of his neck and laughed with that ever present grin. "Why does my sister have to choose the mentally deranged ones for friends?"

Roxas arched a brow at the comment to which the other blond quickly added, "apart from you Roxas. You are Nami's non..mentally..deranged friend."

"Thanks…I think."

Tidus laughed and caught sight of his wrist watch. He slapped a hand to his forehead and fidgeted on the spot in an odd spasm. "I'm late. Oh my god, Wakka will kill me I am gunna die via a Blitzball in the groin GOTTA RUN! See you guys at school yeh!" and with that, Tidus took off down the beach in the same direction as his sister and Selphie.

A few moments passed in silence before either of the two remaining spoke. It was Sora who decided to shatter said silence. "Tidus still plays Blitzball?"

He was rewarded with a definite nod. "Yeah, he's captain of the school's team now. Not that it's a surprise."

To this the brunette nodded with his own grin and turned back to look at the ocean not caring that his wet clothes clung to his skin and his damp spikes drooped down to stick to his cheeks. "I like living here already. I don't miss Destiny Island at all, not even the people really."

"Not even your friends?"

Sora shook his head. "Nope."

Roxas raised both brows not expecting his cousin's response. To him, Sora had always seemed the type to be surrounded by friends; people just gravitated towards him and stayed there. He was always smiling, always a bundle of hyperactive joy and making the best out of any situation ever since the blond could remember. That was who Sora was. Why wouldn't he miss his friends? Something struck Roxas and he just had to ask.

"Do you miss R-"

"No. I don't."

The bitterness in the brunette's voice shocked Roxas. It didn't suit him. Not at all. It was unlike Sora to hold a grudge for longer than a day…

Cool water crept up both male's feet as they stood in silence facing the calm body of aqua sea. The sun was closer to the horizon than it had been when they arrived and had only just begun to streak the sky with a faint orange late afternoon glow. Roxas watched its reflection dancing on the ocean's skin. He liked this time of day as evening showed first signs of making an appearance.

"We should head back soon."

Sora hummed a response and nodded. He too was gazing at the water's surface with admiration. "I'm all wet."

His blond companion laughed and glanced in his direction. "I know."

"It's not fair."

Roxas arched a fine eyebrow in question. "Why not?"

The moment the words left his lips he was pounced and tackled into the water with a triumphant looking Sora sprawled out at his side. "Now it's fair."

"I'm all wet."

The brunette grinned. "I know."

The blond laughed. "It's not fair."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Ok you guys! It wasn't very long but it sets up some stuff for next chapter –nods to self- _

_REVIEWS? COOKIES? ICE CREAM!?! Mmm.._

_Luff you all!_


	3. Detention Strife

Disclaimer: I do not own blablabla sulk-sulk-sulk!

Notes: Sorry I took AGES! Been all crazy busy like NYAH! X.x y'know?!

Yay for Launch Shinra and Kuriqa for being the firstest reviewers of this story! –sparkly eyes!-  
LUFF YOU!  
Launch Shinra: Who is Cloud and Sora's dad?! OooOoo it'll come clear eventually, but it's not too hard to guess and the Riku denial thing will become clearer soonish also! Thank you for the cookies- me and Roxas plushie munched them good and DAMN they were good!  
Kuriqa: To what you said- YES! Damn right! XD it is all true! This is an update so can I have the KH cookies now? PLZZZ!?!

-Incipient-

-3: Detention Strife -

Blue eyes fell upon Hollow Bastion High for the first time. It was _huge_, compared to his old school back on Destiny Island; huge and already full of life passing down it's many halls to it's many class rooms. Upon first sight Sora had decided that he would like it here with Roxas, Namine and all of _their _friends who were quite quickly becoming _his_ friends too. The uniform wasn't _too_ bad either in his opinion; he liked the blue plaid pants and ties with the white shirts.

Walking to school with his two cousins and big brother had been an experience in itself with Rikku being a morning person like himself. Roxas and Cloud however, were NOT morning people. The hyperactive blonde female had broken into song no more than four steps away from the front door and was adamant in her male companions joining in on the sing-a-long. Sora was quick to join in when Rikku got to the chorus of _Simple and Clean, _Roxas had dug his hands into his hair to pull on strands before using his fingers to block his ears and Cloud was already listening to the heavy metal blaring from his headphones. So far, it had been a pleasant morning.

"I'll see you later Rox, So-ra!" Rikku grabbed a hold of Cloud's arm and bodily dragged him down the crowded halls away from the younger Strife's and towards their own class. What an interesting day poor Cloud would have with that psycho acting as tour guide.

The short brunette waved a hand at the retreating forms of the two taller blonde's with a grin. "Have fun Cloud!"

Like hell he'd _have fun!_

A small hand found its way to Sora's arm and spun him around to face the opposite direction and the smiling face of Selphie.

"Sora! I have to introduce you to the guys and gals!" she announced without so much as a _Hi, how're you?_

"Guys and gals, this is Sora, Rox's adorable cousin!" a gesture was made towards Sora's person, "And Sora, this is Hayner, Pence and Ollete." Selphie paused to point at a dirty blond boy beside a smiling brunette female and a dark haired male who beamed at him. Selphie continued, "And this is Wakka, Tidus and Namine you know, and this is Kairi!" she finished, pointing towards a pretty red haired female who gave a short wave.

"Hi everyone," Sora grinned and gave a short wave in return much like Kairi had.

These people seemed nice enough and easy to get along with at first glance. No one was glaring daggers, handing out death threats or glaring at him. Yeah, he was going to like it here.

A bell sounded loudly in the hall snapping the brunette from his short lived reverie. Ah, the first bell of his Hollow Bastion High experience signally his first class which just so happened to be math. Sora hated math.

"Hey Sora, I don't have this lesson with you, but we have second together." Roxas made known as he peered towards the math class room door. "But Kairi has, so she'll keep an eye on you and bring you over for second period ok?"

Sora smiled and nodded as the red haired female came to stand at his side offering a warm smile. They both waved the others off as they took down the halls from sight before entering the room slowly filling with not too keen students.

"Sit by me Sora!" Kairi sat at the farthest desk in the right corner and pointed to the empty chair at her side. The brunette was more than happy to take up the offer.

It was a few more minutes before the room was full of noisy students talking amongst themselves about what they did over the summer holidays, who threw the most insane parties and who was going out with whom.

_BANG!_

Silence at once consumed the entire class. The door swung back on its hinges and slammed shut with a bang with only the slightest difference in force to how it had been opened. Heavy footfalls from heavy boots sounded across the floor and came to a stop by the front desk; the teacher's desk. A tall man stood with undeniable authority, piercing yellow eyes set either side of an _X _shaped scar…his long hair the most unusually bright shade of blue. This man was _scar-Y! _

Sora decided it was probably best not to breathe too loud, move an inch or make eye contact. Yep, that was probably the best way to not be noticed, anger the man or _die._

But he was just a bit dramatic like that.

A stern yellow gaze passed over all in the room and at length, the man spoke. "I'm Saix, as most of you know. For those of you who don't, you do now. Don't piss me off, I won't piss you off and we'll get along fine."

Sora didn't like math.

0o0o0o0

After the grand tour courtesy of Rikku Strife, Cloud Strife had learnt one thing: Rikku is insane. It's not that this wasn't already common knowledge, but the poor blond boy had been dragged to every corner of the school so quickly that remembering anything was pretty much impossible. He didn't even want a tour.

Now he sat comfortably in his first period. English, to be precise. Now Cloud never was much of a book worm or the best with literature in general but he was fairly certain the class would pose no problem for him. Not even with Rikku being in the same room.

Zack nudged him gently in the shoulder and grinned. "How'd you like Aerith? She's amazing isn't she?"

"She's really nice. You did good." The blond offered a small smile in response. Aerith really was nice as well as she was beautiful and kind. Zack was a pretty lucky guy.

A redhead spun around on his seat to face the two males talking quietly and gave them a shit eating grin. "This is Cloud? As in, Rikku's cousin?"

Cloud arched a brow and Zack nodded.

"Yeah. Cloud, this is Reno, he's a class-A-Moron."

"I resent that!" Reno growled and pointed an accusing finger. "Even if it is true." The shit eating grin returned to his face.

At the front of the class sat Rikku beside a pretty brunette female and a dark haired Goth. Yuna and Paine. The blonde female spoke animatedly to her two closest friends and gestured towards the back of the room. All three would then glance in that direction and giggle much to Cloud's annoyance as it was _him_ they were looking at. Damn that Rikku. Damn that Rikku to hell!

"Hey Cloud!" the blonde called out and waved her hand at her cousin. The females at her side echoed a "Hey Cloud!" and waved too. Their only response was a glare promising death, very painful death.

"Aw don't be like that Cloudy-kins! It's just _mean!_" Rikku called out and leant over the back of her chair. "How could you be so cruel to your cutest cousin!?"

"Shut UP Rikku."

"Don't be MEAN Cloud."

"Yeah Cloud, be nice to your cutest cousin" Reno added and efficiently dodged the oncoming punch to his arm courtesy of Zack.

"AW! You're boyfriend is defending you Cloudy-muffin! I'm telling Aerith!"

Something within the usually stoic teen snapped and although he loved his cousin, sometimes she just _really _pissed him off.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP RIKKU!"

"Detention this lunchtime Mr…."

All attention was drawn towards the door which no one had noticed opened within all the commotion. Said door closed with a gentle thud and the new arrival awaited a reply from Mr. Detention this lunchtime.

Cloud stared. And he stared. And he stared some more just for good measure. There at the opposite side of the room was who he supposed was his English teacher. A tall man with a stormy glare to rival if not _crush_ his own stood with an air about him which not only demanded authority, it down right _owned _authority. His brunette hair framed his stern face and just about touched his shoulders which were straight set as he folded his arms over his chest. Was it legal to wear leather to school? Cloud found he didn't really care…nor did he really care about having a detention with _this_ man. The steely blue-grey eyes burned into the blond's own cerulean eyes, which under normal circumstances, would be glaring daggers at anyone who so much as suggested he spend his lunchtime writing lines. Under _normal _circumstances. Oh yeah, the man wanted his name.

"Strife. Cloud Strife."

"That explains it." The teacher cast a quick glance to the grinning blonde female at the front of the class then back over to Cloud. "Ok then Mr. Strife. Rule one: No foul language in my classroom. I'll see you at lunch."

The man took up his seat at his desk and began sifting through a large stack of papers and the room slowly eased into very quiet conversation until instructed by their teacher.

Zack snickered and nudged Cloud harshly in the shoulder. "Nice going Strife. Not even Rikku took under three seconds to get in Leonheart's bad books!"

The redhead one seat in front turned around once more and laughed along side the dark haired teen. "I thought you had a stick up your ass Cloud, but turns out you're pretty fun!" Reno high fived Zack and they both continued to snicker quietly as to not tempt Leonheart's wrath further.

Under normal circumstances, Cloud would have promised hell in a single glance at the two teens. Under _normal _circumstances.

The blond drowned out the sound of the males beside and in front of him and instead gazed past Reno's shoulder to watch his new English teacher. Large hands skimmed over sheets of stacked paper and expressionless eyes were cast downwards towards its contents. Mr. Leonheart stopped on one sheet in particular and pushed all other paper aside. He glanced up, blue-grey eyes immediately meeting the confused half lidded gaze from none other than Cloud Strife. The blond teen took a moment in realising he had been staring. A heated flush worked its way to his face and he quickly looked away seemingly more confused than before. Leon blinked. Were the entire Strife family weird or was he just lucky enough to have both its weird members in his class? Speaking of class…

Leon cleared his throat which was enough to silence every student. He then proceeded to explain what he expected by the end of the lesson.

0o0o0o0

Sora let out a sigh of relief as the morning's lessons came to end. Lunch time FINALLY! Not that he didn't enjoy the dictatorship of a math lesson from Saix, Vexen's freaky science lesson or any of the other crazy teachers, but the boy needed a damn rest!

The brunette was currently being taken to the canteen by Kairi after he was separated from Roxas when leaving second period. He followed after the red-headed girl with a slight bounce to his step and an ever-present smile directed at generally anyone who crossed their path. Sora couldn't remember a time he had actually been happy at his school back on Destiny Island so this was all a welcome change.

"Liking it so far Sora?" Kairi questioned as she allowed herself to fall into step with her male companion. Her violet eyes fixed on Sora's face and he grinned before answering her.

"It's been fun, like actually _fun._ School was never fun back on the islands. I hated it." He gripped his hands lightly to the strap of his messenger bag hanging from one shoulder and upon seeing Kairi's questioning expression; he decided to elaborate a bit.

"Classes were boring and I never really got along too well with anyone except Cloud." Sora noticed the female's brows raise and he then realized she probably didn't know who Cloud was. "My older brother, he was being dragged away by Rikku this morning. Blond guy with hair a bit like mine." He motioned to his own spiky excuse for hair and Kairi laughed and nodded in understanding.

The two continued in remote silence the rest of the way down the over crowded lunch time hallways of the school and headed for the doors leading to the field. Kairi had mentioned that it was where they all usually spent their lunch times, so it was really just common sense to look for Roxas there.

The red-headed girl came to an abrupt stop and spun on her heels to face the brunette who almost collided with her as a result. She raised a hand with an extended index finger and fixed him with a bright smile. "My friend's class finishes in a minute." She gestured with the finger to the door they stood by. "Do you mind if we wait a sec' so I can ask him something?"

"No problem!" Sora leant back against the wall opposite the door while his new friend stood by it. He let his cerulean orbs briefly examine the area while they were waiting; taking note of the lockers not too far from his own and all the while wondering who Kairi's friend was…especially since they were waiting outside what Sora believed to be Cloud and Rikku's math class. Who did the girl know?

_Click._

The door swung open and Sora stood face to face with his older brother who upon seeing him, wore a look of concern. A look that instantly ignited concern within the younger Strife male. What the hell did Cloud have to be worried about? Apart from Rikku maybe.

The blond crossed the small hallway to stand face to face with the brunette, completely ignoring the existence of Kairi only a few feet away.

Sora stared up into older teen's forlorn expression. "What's wrong Cloud?"

Numerous students fled from Luxord's math class room, some complaining about the money they had lost, others, namely Rikku, gloating about the money they had won. Cloud placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Got to go. I'll be late for detention." And he disappeared into the mass of bodies.

"Erm…ok?" Sora blinked a few times, trying to register just why the blond looked so disturbed. Detention wasn't the kind of thing to faze him. Maybe Rikku was starting to get to him.

The brunette spotted Kairi standing with a few people by the door, most of which were out of his line of sight thanks to the crowds. Zack gave him a wave and a quick nod when he passed alongside a red-headed male who had ruffled Kairi's hair earning him a punch in the arm.

"Come here and meet my friend!" She smiled warmly and waved Sora over through the lingering mass of students. He made his way over and stood in front of her with a smile of his own when she turned to point towards who she had been talking to.

"This is my next door neighbour; he's only been here about four months himself. Sora meet-"

"Riku."

Kairi turned back to look at the brunette with confusion. "You've already met?"

Sapphire hues glared mercilessly with all the malice they could muster into the shocked, confused and dazed aquamarine eyes of _Riku._ Riku. The ultra-popular-demi-God of Destiny Island high school. Riku. The ex-best friend who never called. Riku. Who _disappeared _for four years to this very moment. Riku, Riku, _Riku. _

And here Sora stood before the one person he never wanted to see again. Four years had worked its many wonders on the already gorgeous teen. His arms were more toned, and the brunette had no doubt that what lay under the black shirt was equally as impressive; not that it crossed his mind. The layers of silky silver hair had grown longer, now framing his porcelain face perfectly and in some cases, hanging in front of his eyes. The cool depths of his viridian hues were still as beautiful as the day he left; even now they held that same yet ironic beauty while etched with…regret? Remorse? _Pain?_

Riku. The ultra-popular-_God_ of _Hollow Bastion High. _

In that moment Sora wanted nothing more than to hit the silveret. Deal him even half of the physical pain he had dealt Sora mentally. Anything to express just how much life had sucked without having a best friend to laugh at the good times and comfort through the _bad._ So many things could have gone differently with just one phone call.

'_You've already met?'_

"Yeah. Unfortunately." It struck the brunette as to why Cloud had looked so distressed. Concern for his younger brother.

Sora showed Riku what Riku had shown Sora the last time they saw each other-- The sight of him walking away.

0o0o0o0

A pale hand latched onto the door knob and gave it a firm twist until a definite _click _was heard. Hinges groaned in a quiet protest as the wood separating the blond from his agonizingly boring lunchtime of line-writing was pushed in. The fair haired teen stood in the doorway, eyes cast forward to gaze upon his new English teacher with irritation. What a great way to spend one's first lunch time at a new school.

Stormy blue-grey hues were spellbound to a page of a book held within one hand. Brunette locks of hair framed a stern face of concentration as the man leant back in his chair, feet propped up on the desk in what looked to be a comfortable slouch. The free hand's dexterous fingers flipped a page, eyes never once looking up. He looked at complete peace.

Cloud arched a fine brow and gave the wood of the open door one hard knock. Had his teacher forgotten about the detention? Well damn, he knew he shouldn't have turned up.

"Oh, Cloud. I forgot about your detention but good of you to show up." Leonheart gestured to a desk in the front of the classroom, at the same time noticing his feet up on his own. No one was supposed to see that, especially not students. Wasn't a good example and all that.

The brunette took his boots off of the table and sat up straight, book still at hand.

"Sit there and do homework if you have any." The stormy eyes returned to the page he was formally reading.

Taking the desk appointed to him, Cloud sat down pulled out a text book, paper and a pen from his bag. Nothing much else to do…at least he wasn't copying lines from a board or some other repetitive task. Curious blue eyes looked up from their work to take in the new posture of the man a good few feet in front of him. Straight backed in his chair, concentration set on whatever it was he was reading. Must have been a good book?

Cloud shifted uncomfortably in his chair, a tempting thought coming to mind. The teen shot a quick glance in his teacher's direction to check the man was still lost within his story and indeed he was. One foot descended down onto the desk, followed by a second and the blond slouched down into his chair to mimic his teacher's former position. Now he was comfortable.

Dead silence brought the teens thoughts to the lesson prior; maths with Luxord. As expected, he had sat next to Zack with Reno taking the seat in front. The obnoxious redhead had rather quickly taken up the fine art of throwing paper balls towards the front of the class, hitting a boy square in the back of the head. Reno pumped his arm into the air in sign of victory and stuck his tongue out when his target had turned around the throw the rolled up paper back. Numerous insults were cast back and forth before the classroom door opened and Cloud's eyes fell upon a person he never thought he'd see again. He was glad the silveret hadn't noticed him the entire lesson.

_Sora's gunna be pissed. Hopefully he left before seeing Riku. _Though their eventual meeting was inevitable.

Taking the textbook to his hands, Cloud scanned its pages, not really taking anything in. Words and numbers weren't as interesting as the frown directed at him from a very annoyed English teacher.

"Strife…"

Cerulean orbs looked up to gaze over the text book, blond eyebrow raised in question.

"Yes Sir?"

The brunette further narrowed his eyes, detecting challenge in the boy's nonchalant response. It irritated him, it annoyed the hell out of him but it was different to the irritation and annoyance he felt towards any other student who had dared to so obviously get on his nerves. This kid didn't seem like the naturally cocky type…

"Feet off the desk."

Cloud lifted a foot the tiniest fraction with every intention of removing his feet from the desk. Why the hell did he do it the first place? He knew it would annoy Leonheart and he did it anyway. It wasn't within his nature to go out of his way to get a rise out of someone. And here he was…burning with an odd desire to defy. The raised foot fell back to the desk with a gentle thud and the other lifted to cross over at the ankles. Why was he doing this again?

"You had your feet on your desk, so I have my feet on the desk." Blue eyes dropped down to the text book once more as if his statement had ended it. And that was that. Cloud felt a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips when he heard a book being put down and the man shift in his chair.

"Strife…Do as I say, not as I do." The brunette had moved from his seat to lean against the edge of Cloud's desk, arms folded over his chest with a pointed glare. "I don't know where you get the idea that you can do as you want because it doesn't happen in _my _classroom."

The teen looked up to meet glare for glare, smirk still present. Why was he being such an awkward brat? He still wasn't sure himself. If Rikku were here, she'd be applauding him for doing something other than brood. Cloud's feet remained firmly planted on the desk.

"I'll give you detention for the rest of the _week_ if you don't get your feet off of the desk."

The blond didn't move an inch.

"You've lost a week of lunch time Strife." Leon made known before returning to his chair and his book.

Cloud wasn't shocked or bothered by his fate…However; he was both shocked and bothered by the fact that he _chose_ it. Something about the brunette English teacher just made him want to be _bad. _

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Well that was fun to write :3

RIKU! 3 Yay you are here. O.o

Axel: "what about me?!"

Me: next chapter babe…next chapter

-runs off to start the next chapter and other stuffs-

-love-


	4. You'll thank me for it later

Disclaimer: No matter what I try, I still can't own KH, FF or the amazing characters in them. GODAMMIT!

Notes: This chapter was really fun to write :3

Quite a few Riku flash back things that explain a lil' of what's going on with him and Sora though the real MAIN reason isn't stated yet. Maybe you can work it out! Sora and Cloud's dad is mentioned also –nod nod- some people may have guessed already who it is. Someee other stuff too D

_WhisperingNights: _YAY I am glad you like Cloud I wasn't sure how people would react to him o.o so you please me so! XD Like I said, SOME of the Riku/Sora thing is explained here, just not all.  
_Kurotorachan: _NOO! DON'T DIE! XD but I am glad I amuse you:P

-Incipient-

-4: You'll thank me for it later-

_"Stop freaking out Riku! Everything will be fine, you'll see."_

_Sora offered his best friend from the age of four his brightest and most convincing of smiles. Of course everything would turn out to be ok; he was Riku after all and it was just common knowledge that nothing could go wrong for the thirteen year old silveret. His father was widely known for his triumphs of justice as a lawyer; his mother was a fabulously talented pianist; his eighteen year old brother was unstoppable at anything he wished to try and he himself was nothing short of intelligent, gorgeous and popular. What could possibly go wrong for Riku Alexander?_

_Silver bangs fell to shadow aquamarine eyes and the older teen expelled a sigh at the brunette's optimism. No one was as optimistic as Sora after all. _

"_She threatened my dad with divorce Sora…how can things turn out ok?" Riku fixed his friend with a blank stare awaiting more of the naïve optimism the twelve year old had to offer. _

"_Damn it Riku, quit moping already! It won't solve anything and things will be ok. Besides…I'm here!" Another infectious smile claimed the boy's lips and the silveret couldn't help but allow himself to smile if only a little. Maybe things would be ok... he had his best friend after all. _

0o0o0o0

"_Are you ok Riku hunny? You look down." Ashe noted as she took a seat opposite the young teen at the breakfast table. She laced her delicate fingers together and leaned closer, all manner of concern heard in her voice and shown in her eyes. And Riku loved her for it. His best friend's mother noticed the things his own chose to ignore…or just never had the time to notice. _

_The silveret opened his mouth to speak but closed it again when a mass of brown spikes made its appearance in the kitchen doorway clad in nothing but his boxers. The small boy yawned and made his way over to slump into the chair beside his friend._

"_You didn't wake me Riku you jerk." Was mumbled somewhere between another yawn and a light punch to the taller teens arm. "How long have you been down here?"_

_Riku gave a nonchalant shrug pushing Ashe's question to the back of his mind for the time being. He didn't really want to talk about it anyway._

"_At least forty minutes. You're so lazy Sora even Cloud was up before you." He smirked when another pitiful excuse for a punch made contact with his arm. _

_The brunette rested his forehead against the table's cold surface and resisted the urge to raise his middle finger to the boy beside him. He wasn't lazy! He just took longer than Riku to fall asleep…thus when the silveret would sleep over (which was often) he would naturally wake first. Or so was Sora's logical excuse. _

"_You finally decided to wake up, I was about to send a search party." _

_Sora lifted his head from the table and stuck his tongue out at the man who took a seat opposite him, newspaper and coffee at hand. _

"_Morning Riku." The older male gave a small smile to his youngest son's best friend as he did most mornings…he was fairly certain the teen had moved in with Sora or at least wouldn't be surprised if he did. It was starting to become odd if Riku wasn't opposite him at the breakfast table every morning. _

"_Good morning Mr.Strife." _

_A blond eyebrow was raised over the top of a newspaper and brown eyes met aquamarine._

"_Really Riku, eight years and you still won't call me Noa?" the man questioned. _

_The silveret teen grinned sheepishly at his best friend's father before looking apologetic. He had always called him Mr.Strife despite seeing him as more of a father figure than his own who spent most of his time on the phone…on the rare times he was at home at least. Riku sported a genuine smile towards Noa and answered his question._

"_Sorry. I'll try to make it a habit."_

_The blond man gave a simple nod of his head with a returned smile just as genuine. Sora always did have good taste in friends he thought; Riku just backed up that theory. _

"_Now if it isn't too much trouble, drag that lazy son of mine back up stairs and lock him in the bathroom with the shower." Noa laughed from behind his newspaper, eyes now glued back to its contents. Sora gave a groan in protest but was widely ignored by all; even when Riku dragged him from the kitchen squirming and cursing. _

0o0o0o0

The silver haired teen rolled a pen back and forth over the table before him in boredom; head rested down with a sigh and a cheek to its cold surface. Numbers and equations really were the last thing on the boys mind when he thought about how things used to be with Sora...back before he royally fucked up. And here he was in Luxord's math class on a Friday afternoon with a very irate looking blond Strife sitting a few chairs back and glaring in his general direction. So...Cloud was pissed at him too. It's understandable considering the blond's younger brother had been hurt by his former best friend and so naturally, the older Strife felt just a little protective. Riku's brother would have probably been the same. Maybe.

Riku didn't dare turn around to meet Cloud's gaze or Rikku's for that matter; although she didn't look half as murderous as her cousin, she could be quite unpredictable and that in itself was slightly unnerving.

It was impossible to get any work done with a mind stuck in the past so there really was little point in trying...In fact; the silveret had hardly done a page of work since Sora walked away from him on Monday lunchtime. He had tried all week to get the brunette's attention, pull him aside and tell him how sorry he was for screwing up their friendship and everything in between. Easier said than done. Every time Riku saw his chance an obstacle crossed his path in the form of blond Strifes. Rikku would latch onto his arm and take him away with some obviously made up excuse. Roxas did a good job at ushering Sora away whenever the silveret came into his line of sight. And Cloud only needed to glare to have Riku turning in the other direction.

Why did he have to screw up the best friendship he had ever had over something that now just seemed so...pathetic. Sora would have been the first one to tell him that something like distance couldn't damage the bond between best friends.

Riku exhaled another sigh of boredom, mind once more slipping into memories of times when he had that best friend. Not that Kairi wasn't a good friend to him; in fact she was one of the kindest most caring people he knew... she just wasn't Sora.

0o0o0o0

_Even with his bedroom door shut and head buried under several pillows Riku just couldn't drown out the yelling and insults thrown back and forth between his parents downstairs. He winced when he heard something hit the wall and smash, drew in a deep breath as his mother again raised her voice and he suppressed more tears when his name was thrown into the argument. Who got custody of Riku was a hot topic of late in the Alexander house hold. _

_The silveret rolled over onto his side and stared at the photos propped up on his desk. Sora's all too blue eyes stared back at him; face bearing that same grin that always had anyone believing that yeah-- everything would work out. The brunette's optimism could often be linked to just how naive he truly was. Sure Riku was optimistic too when the occasion called for it but he knew when things had no where else to go but down. Like his parents divorce for example. _

_Dull viridian eyes stared listlessly at another of the photos on his desk. Sora and he stood side by side at the beach, the brunette holding an ice cream and Riku with his arm draped lazily around the boy's shoulders. Cloud was in the background frowning as usual while he tired to push away a tall silver haired male who looked a few years older than the three of them. Sephiroth was lucky in Riku's opinion; his older brother didn't have to stay and be the metaphorical rope in their parent's metaphorical tug of war. Instead, he got to go and study abroad in Hollow Bastion far from the drama. _

_Another fragile sounding object hit a wall and smashed. How many hours had they been arguing now? Would they even notice if Riku climbed out of his bedroom window and spent another night at his best friend's house? They hadn't noticed once so far that week, so why would they now? _

_Riku decided rather quickly that he'd prefer to feign happiness with fake smiles at Sora's house than lie on his bed and listen any longer. And he did just that. _

0o0o0o0

_"My cousins are coming over from Hollow Bastion to stay for a few days. It'll be so fun Riku! You remember them?" Sora grinned from where he sat at the end of his bed; eyes cast on the slightly older male sat barely an arms length away. Riku held a game controller in his hands currently smashing the life from his brunette friend's character on screen. He always did win anyway._

_"Roxas and Rikku right?" The silveret looked away from his on screen character in its victory pose and turned his attention to Sora. He'd only met the two blond relatives once before when they were younger, but he remembered them. Hyperactive Rikku who would claim it was her who had the name first despite the slight difference in spelling; Riku didn't care if the girl was born first, he had total ownage of the name and that was that! Roxas was a lot quieter than his sister and looked quite a bit like Sora. The silveret didn't know much more about him other than that. _

_The brunette nodded his head and dropped his game controller. He already knew who won. "Yeah. They're coming next week and you should come with us to get them from the airport. I'll be SO bored on the way there without you." Sora's bright smile was enough to make Riku's chest constrict and meeting the boy's eyes was impossible. Next week would be a problem for the silveret considering what was happening at the end of _this _week. He let one of his forced smiles fool his best friend into false security as he did often lately and it hurt every time he did it. But it was better than seeing the pain if he knew the truth. _

_Riku nodded, "Yeah, sounds like fun." _

_Sora's carefree smile just brightened more. _

_He'd known for over a month now...about his parents divorce being finalized. He'd known for over a month about what that meant for him and where he would be next week. Definitely not on his best friend's bed playing video games pretending life was perfect. That's what Riku would miss the most. Not his house, not his school, not his other friends, not even his dad really; but he _would _miss Sora and that's what hurt the most about the whole damn thing. _

_Riku watched as the brunette turned off the game console and started flipping through channels on the TV. What would Sora be doing this time next week? He'd probably be hating him and Riku really couldn't blame him. _

_As for the silveret, he'd be miles away, hours away, a whole flight away with his mother and that moron of a man she calls her new boyfriend. He'd be in Midgar and he'd be miserable as hell. _

_Why he didn't tell Sora about his parents divorce and him going to live with his mother even Riku was entirely sure. After all, wasn't his best friend the very embodiment of optimism at it's finest? The boy could put a good spin on what seems the most disastrous of situations; go to hell and back then come out smiling. A few hundred miles between them could be fixed with phone calls and holiday visits right? Sora would have found a way to make something good out of something bad so why couldn't Riku just tell him already? There's no time like the present..._

_"Hey...Sor-"_

_"There's nothing good on TV Riku! So boring! Wanna watch a movie?" _

_Aquamarine eyes met cerulean blue and Riku lost his nerve to tell his best friend exactly what was going on behind the closed doors of the Alexander household. He again forced a smile to fake perfection. _

_"Sure Sora, whatever one you want." _

_If he had have thought about how it would be the last time he and his favourite brunette laid at opposite ends of said brunette's bed...he probably would have cried. If he took his eyes and mind off of Sora for more than a minute to realize it was the last movie they watched together he would have probably _allowed_ himself to cry. But if he thought for even a moment that the next time he saw the boy it would be four years later and a meeting tainted with hate his heart would have definitely broken right then._

_How different would things have been if he had told Sora the truth from the start?...trusted in the boy's boundless optimism which would have been the light in Riku's darkness? _

_Things would have been _'perfect' _because Sora would have had the answer._

A hand tapped on his shoulder a few times with a little more force than necessary and Riku was awoken from his reverie. The silveret took his head off of his desk and looked from his barely started math work to the blond who had woken him.

"Lesson's over Riku." Cloud withdrew his hand from the other's shoulder and walked past him to leave the teen in an empty classroom.

0o0o0o0

Lunchtime had become far more interesting for Mr.Leonheart over the past week. It was odd having someone else in his class room during that time as it was usually just him and his book to keep him company. It was a rare thing for someone to have a detention from the English teacher as pissing him off was just a stupid thing to do; as was common knowledge. So when Cloud Strife earnt himself a week of lunchtime detentions most would have thought the blond would be far more careful about what he said and did within Leonheart's presence.

It was Friday, the last day of Strife's punishment for his inappropriate language and Leon was slightly saddened by that fact. He wouldn't admit it, but the company was a welcome change...and it wasn't just because of who that company was, or so Leon would have argued. Next week he'd be back to concentrating on his book. As it stood, the English teacher had barely gotten through half a chapter due to Cloud's peculiar behaviour. The blond wasn't a problem in any of his other classes, Leon had asked the other teachers and all had said they barely noticed the teen was in their class. So what the hell was different about HIS class? Did the boy just not like him or something? It didn't make much sense to the brunette as Cloud's essays and work in general was pretty decent, so he did listen at least.

Leon left the staff room with a relieved sigh. Teacher meetings were boring as hell and he rarely listened to what Principle Xemnas had to say anyway. The guy had an ego the size of Midgar and the brunette was pretty sure he had special meetings with math teacher, Saix. They were just weird like that.

Turning into the hall his classroom was in; Leon adjusted the stack of paper and books into one hand and searched his pockets for the key to the door which proved to be quite difficult. After a battle to do both at the same time he finally found said key and unlocked the door...that was already unlocked.

_I forgot to lock it? _Third time that week apparently. His mind just seemed else where of late.

He nudged the door open with a foot and stepped inside.

"You're late Mr.Leonheart; perhaps you should be the one with the detention."

Leon set a steel gaze over towards his own desk to see the blond he expected to see. Cloud was leant back in his English teacher's comfy looking chair with his feet propped up on the desk; book in hand and a faint smirk playing his lips. He didn't look up from the book; instead he just turned the page and continued to read.

Upon further inspection Leon could see that not only was his student sitting at _his _desk, but that same student was also reading _his _book. Did the boy have a death wish or was he just a moron? The brunette doubted both...it seemed more as though Cloud was testing his limits and _toying _with his superior. And what did that earn him? Another week of goddamn detentions if he wasn't careful, that's what!

"Off of my desk, out of my chair and away from my book Strife." Leon dropped his stack of papers and books by the blond's feet and gestured for the teen to go take his own seat. Why he wasn't killing the boy yet was a surprise even to him. Maybe he had just grown more tolerant of that kind of behaviour. Ha! Like hell he had!

Cloud turned another page of the book completely ignoring the older males demand. His eyes scanned over the text and his smirk became more devious.

"Some of this is a bit graphic don't y'think sir?" Mesmerizing blue glanced up to meet that steely glare straight on without a hint of fear or hesitation. Leon felt his cheeks heating and snatched the book from Cloud's hands before he read anymore. As reading anymore could lead to...questions he really didn't want asked. The blond tugged on his plaid uniform tie to loosen it a bit before removing himself from his teacher's chair to sit in his own.

After receiving no reply to his question Cloud decided to ask another one. "What's your first name Mr.Leonheart?" He rested an elbow on the table and propped up his chin in the palm of a hand with a bored expression. He'd wanted to know the man's first name all week and now was as good a time as any to ask.

The brunette leant back in his now student free chair and folded his arms over his chest. Well, he hadn't been expecting that question.

"Leon."

Cloud stared at him for a moment in silence.

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"So your name is Leon Leonheart?"

"Yes?"

"...Seriously?"

Leon felt his eyebrow twitch. Hadn't he just said his name was in fact Leon Leonheart? Yes...yes he did.

"Yes Strife. My name is Leon Leonheart."

An amused smirk took the blond's lips and he gave a nod of his head. That was... really an odd name. Were his parents on crack when they named him or was it just an amusing joke at their son's expense? Seemed pretty cruel to Cloud and he just had to know.

"What the hell possessed your parents to call you that?"

He wasn't sure if the boy was inquisitive or just very bored. Probably the latter. Leon exhaled a sigh of annoyance and decided to elaborate somewhat for the teen.

"My real name is Squall Leonheart; I just prefer to be called Leon."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. Well that was definitely a more interesting name and when meeting his teacher's gaze once more, the blond decided it was also very fitting. But why did he want to be called Leon instead of Squall? After all, Squall had more significance and went a lot better with Cloud...ah, not that it mattered or anything.

"Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Besides, it's really none of your business."

Cloud gave a shrug of his shoulders. The man had a point. A teacher's private life wasn't really something Leon was at liberty to talk about so the teen didn't feel the need to pry any further...at the moment. He pulled out a book from his bag and started on his weekend homework. That was one of the few pluses of detention Cloud supposed; he hadn't had to do any homework at home all week. The other plus of course, was having eye candy in the form of a tall, brooding-brunette shrouded in mystery--mystery that the teen was all too thoughtful of beyond what was socially acceptable for a student to wonder about their teacher. Cloud was becoming all too conscious of that fact.

Blue-grey eyes observed the blond watching his every movement. He looked so calm when concentrating on his work; face expressionless and free of that smirk...he was like another person. Leon's gaze followed the teen's hand as it dragged the pen over the paper wondering all the while what work he was doing. Was it something he could help with? Cloud didn't look like he needed any help. The blond sighed quietly, glanced to his text book and started writing again. Leon turned his attention towards the window. The sky was blue, the sun was out and it was an all round glorious day; definitely not the kind of weather one would choose to waste stuck inside. Looking back towards Cloud, the brunette felt himself soften and came to a decision completely out of character.

"The weather's nice..." Leon fixated on the teen once more who looked up from his work. "You only have ten minutes of detention left; I don't think it would hurt if you left early."

Cloud looked genuinely shocked. He hadn't expected any act of kindness from the man at all and it didn't go unappreciated. With a soft smile he collected his things, left his chair and walked over to the door ready to go. He stopped and glanced back over his shoulder with an unreadable expression.

"Thanks Mr.Leonheart, the weather is nice." Cloud lips formed that devious smirk again..."But I prefer Squalls."

Leon watched his student leave at a complete loss for words. Another thing that was completely out of his character. The door closed with a soft click and just like that the English teacher was left alone once more with nothing but his book for company. How disappointing.

In that moment of quiet reflection Leon came to terms with three things. One being that the kid really was quite a handful. He pushed the limits and tested the boundaries but knew when to stop. Two: his company was going to be missed. Leon actually wanted him to do something that would land him in another week of detention...was that normal? And three... which was probably the most alarming thing he had come to accept. Alarming because as his teacher it was unethical to think on it any more than a passing opinion; and accept, not realise because it was obvious from the moment Squall Leonheart laid stormy blue-grey eyes on the boy that Cloud Strife really was just...

Ridiculously beautiful.

0o0o0o0

It was the end of the day, the end of the school week and Roxas couldn't have been more relieved. Ever since Sora had run into Riku on Monday he'd been moping and the complete polar opposite to what he had been like when he arrived. It was just so un-Sora-ish. Didn't suit the boy at all.

Roxas stirred his straw boredly around the remaining liquid in his glass. He was sat opposite Namine in _Highwind _as they finished their weekend's homework. Yeah...Friday afternoon and he was stuck doing homework. Namine had said he'd be happy he did it when Sunday came around. She was right too.

"Hey, stop zoning out." The blond female tapped the end of his nose with her pencil to break him from his day dreams. "You're almost done, don't stop now."

Right, half a page from freedom. He picked up his pen and began the next sentence of his essay; getting past the word 'and' was becoming increasingly difficult as the sun outside became more and more appealing. So...close...to freedom!

As she was always good with concentrating and getting her work done, Namine had already finished her homework by the time the clock struck five. It was coming up to five thirty and it was obvious how Roxas' resolve was quickly fading. The blonde female finished her sketch and sighed looking up at her very distracted best friend.

"I'm going to go meet Selphie, Tidus and Wakka at the beach and before you say anything- no you aren't allowed to come until that's finished." She gestured to his work. "You'll thank me for it later too."

Namine took her leave before Roxas could protest.

Staring down at his paper, the blond wondered why anyone cared what some dude did to some nation with some… other dude in it or whatever. It was in the past. Gone. Done. It didn't affect him so why should he have to write about it? Damn History! Damn it to hell!

Ok, he could do this. He just had to concentrate and focus on his notes. His notes with doodles of himself at the beach with sea-salt ice cream. How helpful.

Roxas tugged at his hair and groaned in frustration. He was never going to finish at this rate.

"Whoa, hey Blondie, keep pulling at your hair like that and you'll go bald."

'Blondie' looked up from his hell of an essay to see who was standing to the side of his table. It was that red-headed guy he often saw around but had never spoken to before now. His hair was as fiery and crazy as it always was but it was the first time Roxas got to see him up close. The guy's eyes were such an intense green, lined with dark eyeliner and shimmering with mirth to match the wide grin. It reminded the blond somewhat of a Cheshire cat. For some reason, that was oddly appealing.

Roxas noticed the two black diamond shaped…tattoos were they? - Under his eyes around the same time he realized he had yet to say anything.

"Heh, it's just that my homework is so frustrating. Can't concentrate at all."

The read-head nodded to this and peered over at the blond's essay with interest.

"What is it?"

"History, so boring." He rested his chin on the palm of an upturned hand and examined the tall male's face some more. He was really stunning up close. Roxas couldn't help but look back to the black diamonds again and the man seemed to notice this.

"Yeah they're tattoos."

He felt heat rise in his cheeks at being caught staring and quickly looked back down to his homework.

"You look like you could use some help kid. How 'bout I get us some smoothies- on me of course and we finish your boring homework?"

Was this guy serious? He'd really spend time helping with his boring as hell homework instead of being out on the gloriously sunny Friday afternoon- going on evening?

Roxas looked him up and down. Read-head was in _Highwind_'s uniform, shouldn't he be working? And why didn't the guy have a name tag on? He really wanted to know his name.

"It's Axel."

"Huh?" Oh yeah, he was staring at his chest where a name tag would have been had he been wearing one.

"My name, it's Axel." Axel extended a hand out to the blond waiting for him to shake it which he did while also offering his own name.

"I'm Roxas."

"Roxas. Rox-as. I like it. Wait right there Roxas and I'll grab the smoothies so we can get that work done. Nothing like fruity-goodness right?" He had that Cheshire cat grin again which just seemed to become more and more appealing every time it showed.

Axel disappeared for a few minutes leaving the teen to his own devices. He seemed really nice, definitely the kind of guy the blond didn't mind getting to know better; which he hoped he'd get the chance to do. Roxas tapped his pen on the table staring boredly at the wall and lost somewhere within his own thoughts. He'd have to do his homework on a Friday night more often if tall, stunning red-headed strangers offered him smoothies and help. It was a definite plus on the whole homework thing.

A clear cup with a pinkie-orange looking concoction was placed before him and dragged him from his reverie. There was even a cherry on top. Nice.

"No idea what it tastes like, I just made it up now." Axel took the cherry from his own equally peculiar looking drink and popped it into his mouth while taking the seat opposite. The whole action was oddly fascinating to Roxas. The red-head met his gaze and arched a brow causing another blush to form on the blond teen's cheeks. He quickly glanced in another direction and took a sip of his drink which was…freaking tasty!

"Wow, that's really weird, but really good Axel." Roxas made known between sips. He couldn't really pin the taste on anything in particular but that was the best bit.

"Really?" Axel tried his own smoothie taking a moment to decide if he liked it. He traced his tongue over his lower lip, looking off in another direction before turning back to Roxas who was staring again, face slightly flush.

"Mmm, gotta say that's pretty good." The red-head flashed another grin.

After odd smoothies were gone, Axel went on to help Roxas with that boring homework. He explained everything from the bad Ansem guy who started the war (or so the blond called him) to the war itself and all in between. He was surprisingly knowledgeable on the subject and listening to him had the essay finished in another fifteen minutes. For that Roxas was glad.

It was nearing six O'clock, _Highwind_'s closing time. Axel had told him that he was locking up for his boss, Cid, tonight so he'd have to kick him out.

The blond stood outside the bookstore-coffee shop and watched as the taller male locked the double doors before pocketing the keys and turning to face him. He wanted to say something; anything at all and at last settled on-

"Thank's for everything Axel, you were a huge help."

"No prob blondie." He reached out a hand to ruffle the short teen's spiky blond locks with a smile. "Don't be a stranger ok, Roxas?" With that, Axel removed his hand from the boys head and walked away with a wave thrown over his shoulder.

"See'ya Axel!" He called out after him watching his retreating back.

Roxas was left alone with a smile and weekend free of homework which he was deliriously glad he had now. Namine was right as always; he would be thanking her later for more than just getting his work finished.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

:3 fun to write! Leon/Cloud parts are especially fun o.o !!

REVIEW? X3 your reviews make me happy and in most cases grin like Axel.

Just incase anyone doesn't know Noa is Gabranth- Basch's twin brother in FF12 :3


	5. I thought you liked Squalls

Sunday afternoon and Sora was bored

Disclaimer: -disclaims- v.v Don't own KH, FF or the awesome bishies in either. Gah.

Notes: WHOAA Long time no see :o Sorry :p I have been gaming hard and going to game expos and of course LONDON EXPO! WOOO! –flail- I was cosplaying….SORA! With my Riku and my Roxas. Good times. Good-f'in-times. XD I may put a link to one of our many pictures on profileyy-bio thing at some point. BUT ANYWAYS!

_CelticGoddess09: _THANK YOU! –sparkly eyes- Here is next chapter :3

_WhisperingNights: _I know v.v poor Sora and Riku! But all shall be mended in time right? :o Lol XD Yummy Leon and Cloud makes me happeh!

_AnyaUrameshi: _LOL your brother is right XD and YAY Cloud and Leon!

_MrSpoonLovesYou: _First of all, that name RAWKS! Lol. I like spoons :3 And thank you! –updates-

_Akachi: _WHOAA thanks for that uber long review :p it made me grin like a freak XD THANK YOU! And yeah :p I like to try and have some development to a relationship o.o –nods- like you said, "hey-we-just-met-but-we're-obviously-meant-to-be-besides-ur-hot-so-lets-go-and-have-hot-mansex' (LOL) Not that I mind mansecks…for it is made of TOTAL WIN, but yeh XD I know what'cha mean! I also thought that having Roxas not hate Axel beyond all reason was a nice change :p I am glad to agree! Leon's age will be mentioned! XD No worries! And no—I'm not abandoning the fics, I loves them, but I suffered some very evil writing block :p THANKS FOR THE COOKIES AND INSPIRATION! XD Both were well received. –snickers at the word received-

-Incipient-

-5: I thought you liked Squalls-

Sunday afternoon and Sora was bored. Tidus and Namine had gone home for lunch; Roxas left not long after to get a book from _Highwind_ or whatever and here the brunet was…alone…at the beach.

Sora imbedded his index finger into the sand and begun to draw small shapes, none of them looking like anything in particular, but it kept him amused for the time being. Dragging his finger downwards the brunet registered a shadow obscuring his _art _and glanced up to see what was obstructing his sunlight.

Warm violet eyes and a soft smile greeted him.

"Hey Sora, can I sit with you?" Kairi asked with her fingers laced in front of her. She looked anxious which struck Sora as being odd…what reason was there to be anxious?

The male teen nodded and gestured to his side. Kairi sat cross-legged and immediately begun playing with the sand as he had been doing; drawing nameless shapes without any purpose in silence.

Sora observed her momentarily. Was that all she wanted? He thought there was more reason to her being at his side but the anxiety was gone and she looked content. Odd.

"Uh, Kairi," Sora begun, eyes focused on the peculiar behaviour of his new friend, "Did you want to talk about anything? You seem kinda weird."

Silence reined a moment longer before the red-head looked up at him and laughed with a genuine smile. She then gave a nod.

"Yeah, I did want to talk about something…but I don't know how to ask you." The worry was evident in her pretty eyes and Sora almost felt guilty for being the cause of it.

He inclined his head to one side and leaned closer with a goofy grin. "Just ask! Promise I won't get mad or anything, no matter what it is."

"It's about Riku."

"Oh."

Sora looked down at his hands suddenly finding them to be the most interesting thing in the world. Wow, look at how his hand…has…fingers.

"It's ok if you don't want to talk about him. It was just one question anyway." Now it was Kairi's turn to observe her new friend's peculiar behaviour.

Another moment of silence passed and the brunet lost interest in his digits as curiosity got the better of him. "It's fine, just ask."

Kairi seemed pleased enough with that. "Well, thought I'd talk to you about this because you're the only one who refuses to talk to Riku at all." She laughed, "So you can't tell him what I say."

Despite the bitter topic, Sora laughed too. It's was true…he wouldn't talk to Riku about anything.

"So, what about him?" he asked as casually as he could, curiosity now at its peak.

The red-head seemed to grow anxious again. She turned her gaze towards the sea with an unreadable expression and threaded her fingers together in her lap; unsure of how to approach the question.

"I think…I like Riku," Kairi tilted her head towards the brunet with a nervous smile, "Like as in…more than a friend."

Sora wasn't quite expecting that. He watched his friend's pretty, flushed face and took a moment to let it sink in.

And it bothered him.

Kairi was his new friend and if she dated Riku…would it put a rift between them? Was it the idea of someone finding anything about _Riku_ of all people attractive what bothered him? Perhaps he was just envious of not having that kind of relationship himself. Or maybe Sora was jealous that Kairi wanted to date Riku…and not him.

He passed a curious gaze over the girlish physique and features of his friend; taking in everything about her inside-out.

Yeah, Kairi was gentle and kind as she was attractive; always smiling and making others smile. There was nothing _not _to like about her. But Sora felt nothing for the girl beyond a friend. And he wasn't sure why that bothered him too.

With a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and strained smile, Sora broke his silence.

"So you should tell him right?"

"Eh…but what of he doesn't feel that way about me? It would damage our friendship if it didn't work out too…" Kairi stared at Sora anxiously again in hope of gaining more of the boy's _wisdom._

The brunet didn't think about that. It would damage the friendship if it didn't work out. Oh well, if they broke up Riku would be permanently out of the picture! He wouldn't be hanging around with Kairi so he wouldn't be near Sora; and he wasn't really friends with anyone else in their group apart from Selphie…but Selphie was everyone's friend.

"Kairi, you don't know if you don't try right?" Sora offered one of his goofiest grins and continued, "Besides, Riku would be even more of a moron if he turned you down."

The red-head laughed and gave her thanks. Sora really was a good friend.

Cerulean and violet eyes both gazed out over the vast sea before them as the clouds grew darker and the beginning of rain made itself known. The tide had crept ever closer during their time on the sand it was getting late…for a Sunday evening at least.

Kairi took to her feet, dusted herself off and offered a hand to the still seated brunet to pull him up.

"I'm gunna to go see Riku…thanks for listening and everything Sora." She gave that bright smile of hers.

"No problem, always happy to help. See you at school tomorrow." He waved her off and turned in the opposite direction to make his own way home. Hopefully before the rain got too bad…

0o0o0o0

"Come onnn.."

"No."

"Pleassseeee..."

"No."

"Why not?!"

"NO."

Zack groaned in annoyance and flopped onto his best friend's bed. Why the hell did Cloud have to be so damn difficult?! Give a guy a break! He was only trying to help.

"But you've been staring at her all week…" Bright blue eyes fixed on the moody blond sat at the foot of the bed with his back against the wall. His usually soft features were set into a stern expression that left no room for argument…for most people. Unfortunately for him, Zack Fair was not most people.

"I haven't set eyes on her since I met her." Cloud stated. His own bright blue eyes met that of his friend.

The darker-haired teen laced his hands behind his head and extended a socked foot to poke a toe at the sulking form a few feet away.

"Lies!" he accused and continued with his irritating action.

"You stare at her every English class, Cloud you can't deny it! I sit right next to you, I see it." A triumphant grin played his lips. Oh yeah. Victory.

Cloud's stern eyes took on a darker look when he thought over Zack's words. He reflected on the last week's English classes, picking out in his mind any thing he did that may have given his friend the wrong idea. And it struck him. They both sat in the back row, right in the middle. A few rows directly forward was Tifa…her desk opposite that of their teacher's; Mr.Leonheart.

It was at that moment that Cloud chose to resign himself to the more…legal of two evils. On one hand, he could lie and agree with Zack; say his vacant and in some cases, heated stares were directed at Tifa. On the other hand, he could admit the truth about who his eyes were really on. Stupid idea.

With a dejected sigh the blond gave a shrug of his shoulders and a faint nod of his head.

"Ok, I was looking at her but don't say anything. I'll kill you if you do."

At that, Zack looked even more pleased with himself and couldn't help but feel the need to mock his friend.

"Wow, I have to tell Tifa! You two can come on double dates with me and Aerith, she'd love tha-OW!" he moved his hands in front of his face to guard it from the violent pillow beatings. "It's a joke! I won't tell, PROMISE!"

Cloud relented on his attack and returned to his moping at the foot of the bed.

0o0o0o0

Intense cerulean eyes fixed on the clock above the door and watched the second hand _tick_ it's painfully slow way to freedom. To lunch time at least.

It was Monday morning and Roxas was unusually impatient. His fingers tapped on the desk or rolled his pen while his foot nudged at the chair in front of him and he fidgeted in his seat. Only a few hours left now until he could leave school and go do his homework at _Highwind_.

Roxas had visited the coffee shop come book store yesterday in obvious hope of seeing someone in particular but unfortunately Sunday wasn't a day of work for Axel.

But he knew Monday was.

_Tick tock tick tock._ Roxas sighed in boredom and begun doodling on his work. His mind just wasn't set on learning today and he already resigned himself to a day of lost knowledge…or whatever his teacher had complained about. His thoughts were most definitely elsewhere.

If Axel didn't work on Sundays, what did he do? Roxas wanted to know. Did the red-head stay at home and relax or see friends? And…did he live with his parents? How old was Axel anyway? The blond never thought to ask.

Roxas propped an elbow up on the desk and used the upturned hand to support his chin. _Tick tock tick tock. _Time had never passed so slowly…

"Hey…"

He glanced to his side to see the concerned expression of Namine with her bright eyes trained on his as if looking for something. It was slightly unnerving.

"Yeah?" Roxas whispered in reply, careful not to gain the unwanted attention of their teacher.

A moment passed in silence before Namine spoke again. Her voice had also taken on a whisper as she leant forward and questioned her friend.

"You ok? You seem a little distracted."

"Mm, can't concentrate. Got a lot on my mind..."

All concern left the blonde female and her lips took form of a sweet and knowing smile. That was also slightly unnerving.

Roxas shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Why did she look so happy? Shouldn't she be asking what's wrong; what's on her friend's mind?

"That's sweet," she whispered, pressing a hand to her lips momentarily to suppress a giggle. "You're thinking about that guy who works at Highwind."

"…" At a loss for words all the boy could do was blush. He hadn't even told Namine about Axel yet! How the hell did she know?! Her smile looks innocent…but looks can be deceiving damnit!

"Doesn't take a genius to work it out Roxas." Namine took a quick glance to the front of the classroom to check that their conversation fell on deaf ears to the teacher before continuing. "You're doing your homework the day you get it, that's just weird for you."

Even his ears were burning from the heat of his blush. Roxas sunk lower into his chair and covered his face with his hands. "I'm _so _confused," he groaned in a hushed tone, voicing what was truly on his mind for the first time in a while. As his best friend, Namine was the best person to talk to about it. And now was as good a time as any.

"We'll talk at lunch." Namine pointed to the clock. "Ten minutes."

Lunch was also a good time.

0o0o0o0

"Sora!"

The brunette spun on his heels to look for who had called his name. And he should have known. A cheery grin and insistent waving waited for him at the doors leading outside.

"Hi Selphie!" Sora matched her grin and seconded the girl's waving when he reached her. An arm was wordlessly linked into his and the teen was dragged out and onto the field before he could even register it was happening.

"You're late mister! We were waiting for you for ages!" Selphie exaggerated while pulling her hostage around a corner. Her pace and grip was pretty impressive and borderline painful for someone so small.

"I'm two minutes late!" Sora exclaimed, "That's hardly ages."

The brunet male was dragged part way onto the field and over towards their group of friends. Roxas and Namine were sitting away from the others; both appeared in some deep conversation for neither had noticed the arrival of the newcomers. Under a big tree sat Hayner, Pence, Olette, Kairi and…Riku. Sora's eyes immediately narrowed.

Riku had an arm draped around the red-head's shoulders causing her pretty face to taint the slightest pink. So Kairi had talked to him yesterday evening. Apparently it went well. Sora glared. Damn that arrogant prick!

Aquamarine hues trailed over to fix on the irate brunet. His small shoulders were set, his entire body was rigid with tension and his cerulean eyes told stories of death to come. Riku hadn't known that his former-best friend was capable of what seemed to be intense hatred. Where did all his optimism go? Where ever it went, it took the heart warming smiles with it. The silveret wanted both back. Riku wanted _his_ Sora back.

Selphie skipped the rest of the way to join the group of friends and dragged her hostage with her. She dropped to her knees at Riku's side and fidgeted until she was sat comfortably cross-legged.

"Com'ere!" a small hand latched onto Sora's wrist and he was violently pulled down to Selphie's side leaving no room for protest. Only she could ignore or not care about the obvious tension between the friend on her left and the friend on her right.

The intense aquamarine stare remained fixed on Sora even as the silveret leant back against the tree's trunk and pulled his red-head closer. Kairi's blush deepened. Sora's glare hardened.

"Hey short-stuff." Riku's face was expressionless and guarded of emotion even as he addressed his ex-best with a long forgotten nickname. He didn't expect a reply…and didn't get one either. Instead he was given the finger and more silence.

Any awkward air was quickly dispelled when Selphie decided to cut in with a detailed and greatly exaggerated rendition of her morning so far. For that Sora was grateful.

On the opposite side of the tree and out of hearing distance sat the two blonds. Namine's skilled hand dragged graphite back and forth over a page of the sketchbook in her lap, stopping every now and then when her subject would shift slightly or animate his speech with hand gestures. She gave small but noticeable nods of her head to show her understanding of the other's words. It was unlike him to be so worked up over anything.

"It's just…really strange. I've hardly spoken to the guy and I can't get him out of my head." Roxas sighed and shook his head before continuing. "At least I get my homework done the day I get it."

Namine laughed and placed her pad of paper down beside her followed by the pencil. Lacing her fingers together and resting them in her lap, she leant slightly forward with a timid smile and eyes bright with mirth.

"I always had my suspicions you know." The smile grew and the blond boy before her looked utterly confused.

"About what exactly?"

"You're sexuality, silly."

At this, Roxas' confusion turned to shock. In the time since he first laid eyes on Axel right up to that very moment he had never questioned his sexuality. It was stupid really…when he thought about it. Why else would he be so taken with one person enough to plague his mind if the feelings were on a friendship level or admiration—which was his initial thought.

"Curious?"

Again Roxas looked confused. "About my sexuality?"

Namine gave a firm nod of her head. "I think it's obvious but you don't look all that convinced."

"HEY! Guys, get over here!"

Both blonds turned towards their gathered friends to see an excitable Selphie waving an arm back and forth. The brunet at her side appeared to be somewhat less jubilant as he stared through narrowed eyes at which was presumably Riku hidden from sight via the tree.

"Looks like we are wanted." Namine took up her drawing pad and pencil before rising to her full height. "Give it some time and things will make sense, ok?"

Roxas replied with a faint smile and he too rose to his feet.

"Thanks Namine. I'll let you know the verdict."

0o0o0o0

Lunchtime seemed to have lost it's vigour for one English teacher in particular. The incredibly boring and unnecessary staff meeting over-ran by ten minutes thus shortening his mid-day break by well…ten minutes.

He was in no hurry to get back to his classroom but he wasn't exactly enthusiastic about going to the cafeteria and making small talk with other teachers either. Choosing the lesser of two evils the brunet turned down the last hall on the right, mind set on finishing at least another chapter of his book before his afternoon classes begun.

It wasn't quite as…interesting as his lunchtimes of the week past, but it would suffice. Besides, his next class would bring him a challenging student. And if he was lucky, said student may earn himself a detention.

Dejectedly, he twisted the door knob and gave a gentle nudge allowing it to edge itself open. And what met him came as a shock. Though it really shouldn't have.

"You set bad examples for a teacher, sir." Came a familiar voice from the back of the room. "Ten minutes late and leaving out your dirty book where anyone could find it." Mesmerizing blue eyes shot up from a page of the book before them and fixed onto the brunet at the door. "Shame on you Squall."

After a moment for the scene to sink in, Squall addressed the situation in what he would like to think of as being in a professional manner. He swiftly made his way to the back and stopped at the last desk with an outstretched hand in expectance. Students really shouldn't be reading books like _that_.

"Hand it over, Strife."

Cloud leant back further in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk in a winning attempt to purposely rouse his teacher's annoyance. He didn't know why he felt the need to do it, but he felt it none the less. Blue eyes fell back to the page's contents with apparent interest. Defying Squall Leonhart had become a joy of late.

"That book was in my desk drawer."

"Correct."

Leon arched a brow. "What were you doing in my drawer?"

Those blue eyes shifted up to lock with that of the teacher's; an incredulous expression on his face. "I was looking for your book."

The brunet sighed, snatching the paperback from Cloud's fingers and holding it out of reach. Why did the boy have to be so awkward?

"You must like detentions, Strife." He turned on his heels and strode back towards his own desk at the front of the room. His heavy boots echoed in the emptiness and stopped with a firm thud before Leon sat in his high-backed chair with an air of victory. Placing the book back in the desk drawer, Leon set his gaze on Cloud.

The blond's face showed a quiet confidence—being every bit the player in the silent, unspoken game he was playing with his teacher. Exactly what that game was, Leon wasn't entirely sure. But he sure as hell wanted in.

"Shouldn't you be spending time with your friends?" questioned the brunet as he folded his arms over his chest and leant back into his chair.

"Shouldn't you be spending time with your fellow veterans of learning?"

Leon's steely eyes narrowed. He didn't know if he should be offended or not…

"Touché…"

Cloud's lips formed a distracting smirk before he turned away to gaze out of the window. The sky was slowly darkening with the incoming rain clouds; the once blue sky taking on the greyish tint of the previous days' storms. It reminded him of the man sat at the opposite end of the room; all rain clouds and storms. Bright blue eyes tore from the world outside to again observe the other male…who was staring at him.

"Yes sir?" the blond asked with a slight quirk to his lips and an arched brow. "It's rude to stare."

A moment passed before Leon registered he was being spoken to. He removed his gaze from his student only to set it back on him with a firmer and less trance like stare.

"Why are you here, Strife?"

Blue locked with grey and a moment of silence passed between the two males. For the first time Cloud wasn't entirely sure how to reply. Why was he there? He knew the answer but he couldn't explain it to his teacher of all people…he could barely explain it to himself.

Something stirred within the brunet at the blond's hesitance and apparent difficulty at supplying a valid answer and that alone was disturbing to him. What was it that he was feeling? Hope?—hope that whatever this was…it wasn't one sided. But then, what exactly was 'this'? Leon tapped his index finger on the desk before him waited for something—anything from the room's other inhabitant. He didn't have to wait long.

With a breathy sigh, Cloud returned his gaze to the window and set his eyes upon the ever darkening sky.

"I didn't want to be outside in that," he gestured beyond the pane of glass, "I'd get wet."

Leon's mind immediately took the liberty of forming such a mental image and it wasn't entirely unwelcome. But it _was_ unsettling. He too looked towards the window and the gloom beyond it, all the while banishing any perverse thoughts about the teen at the opposite end of the room. Those cerulean orbs were set on him again.

"I thought you liked 'Squalls'…" and the brunet so enjoyed the faint blush settling onto Cloud's cheeks at being caught in his lie. For the first time he looked vulnerable and somewhat aware of exactly what was happening between himself and his teacher; more aware than Leon at least. He swallowed hard and willed away the heat from his face before once again hiding behind his façade of confidence and cocky repartee.

"Oh I do sir," Cloud stated and continued with a smirk. "But I prefer the Squall in here."

Words abandoned the English teacher without grace as he sat sternly in his chair, jaw set and shock written all over his face. What does a man in his position do? Better question… what does a _teacher _in his position do? How was he supposed to deal with a student's inappropriate flirtatious behaviour? He was fully aware of how his lower body wanted to act on it but the more logical upper body had morals that unfortunately didn't involve the nearest horizontal surface. What a pity.

Leon cleared his throat and took in a shallow breath. There was only one right way to address the situation and it started with talking to Cloud.

"Listen, Strife…"

The hinges on the door creaked loudly as it was pushed open. Growing noise from the hallway beyond echoed into classroom; stamping of feet, laughing, yelling and then the ringing of a bell signalling that lunch time was over and it was time to learn again.

A flow of students made their way in to their seats, most noticing Cloud already sitting at the back of the room but no one questioned it. The boy wasn't the most approachable person since he started coming to Hollow Bastion.

"OI! CLOUD! Where the hell were you? We spent the last half of lunch looking for you!" Zack dropped his bag by the desks leg, fell back into the chair beside his best friend and lazily slumped. His bright blue eyes were set on the blond who looked immensely irritated with something. The dark haired teen gave his friend a nudge in the arm to get his attention.

Cloud reluctantly shifted his line of sight from an equally annoyed looking Leon to the slouched teen sat to his right.

"I was in here moron."

"Whoa-hey! No need for that." Zack gave his best 'kicked puppy' look before nodding his head towards the front of the room. "Tifa was looking for you too. She wants to talk to you." He grinned followed by a wink.

"About what?" Cloud turned his head in the direction his friend had nodded to see none other than Tifa staring right back at him. He visibly paled as she visibly blushed. Realization hit him hard in the face.

Zack laughed and rolled his eyes. "Like you don't know." He then immediately held his hands in front of his face in a defensive gesture. "But I didn't say anything! She worked it out on her own—with Aerith." Another grin.

The blond trailed his gaze away from the pretty blushing brunette female to the less pretty—more stunning brunet male behind her. Cloud felt the heat returning to his cheeks when he caught the intense stare Leon had on him. It was intrusive…and when the stare was gone, the teen felt himself missing it.

Tifa whispered something to the girl sat beside her and both giggled before turning to face the front of the room. Cloud sunk down into his chair. He was definitely going to have to come up with something good to get out of this one.

It wasn't long until the room was entirely full of students talking, writing and in some cases being generally obnoxious. This was uncommon in the usually strict classroom of Mr.Leonhart, uncommon indeed. But something was different today. The brunet was misplaced and almost deaf to the order-turned-chaos of his class while his eyes stayed trained on one student.

He wasn't talking, he wasn't writing, he wasn't being in any way obnoxious. Cloud Strife was simply observing the rain hit the window's glass with a vacant and dazed expression. Leon watched as the blond lifted a hand from the desk's surface and gripped his uniform tie to give it a gentle tug. The tie loosened and the hand moved to undo the top button of his shirt. With an inaudible sigh, Cloud rested his chin on the upturned palm and continued rain-gazing.

Leon watched some more. He stared and he stared, unnoticed to the occupied students of his class. For the first time he was actually thankful for the rowdiness; it gave him the chance to examine the blond from a distance…the curve of his collar bone and neck, the faint pinkish tint to his cheeks and the—

Smouldering blue eyes now locked onto his own.

Suddenly very aware that he had been caught, Leon stood from his chair and turned his attention immediately to the chaos of his classroom. He addressed the issue. Order was restored. The brunet once more sat back in his seat. But he couldn't help but chance a glance at that one particular student.

Cloud Strife wore a lazy smirk, a confident smirk…as he stared at his teacher through half lidded eyes.

Leon felt his own resolve collapsing along with his morals, rationality and any sense of better judgement. It was just his luck that he—a twenty four year old English teacher-- meet his match in the form of an adolescent blond male who really was just…

Sinfully gorgeous.

0o0o0o0

"Just looking at him gets me all irritated," Sora ranted and poked at his hot chocolate with a spoon. "But now that he's dating Kairi, I just can't avoid him! He shows up everywhere…hanging around after our classes and stuff." He added another sugar to the already over-sweetened drink and finally quietened for the first time that afternoon.

The brunet had headed over to _Highwind _with Roxas shortly after school let out and both teens now sat at opposite sides of a table next to the large window. It was depressingly dark outside for the early afternoon but the monotone sky and its dreary rain clouds seemed pretty content on staying, much to Sora's annoyance. Unlike his fairer haired cousin, he himself liked his weather to be blue, hot and breezy. This weather just plain sucked.

Another sugar was added to the hot chocolate before a hand reached out to remove the source of impending hyperactivity and perhaps even diabetes. Sora had enough sugar in his system already to put a five year old with ADD to shame and Roxas didn't really want to be the one to deal with that. The brunet was bad enough without help.

With a dejected sigh, the blond turned his attention away from the sugar and over to his cousin instead.

"I know what he did hurt you Sora, but you lied to him too y'know. You could at least hear him out."

Sora visibly tensed at the mention of his own painful lies and Roxas immediately regretted having said anything…especially at the current time of year. Waving a dismissive hand to dispel awkward air, the blond teen struggled with finding a change of topic. He didn't have to think long before his saviour came in the form of crazy red hair, emerald eyes and that Cheshire cat grin.

"Hey there blondie."

An all too obvious blush formed on Roxas cheeks when Axel sat in the chair beside him and that grin was directed his way.

The tall red-head slouched, mindlessly resting an arm over the back of the teen's seat. He took a sip from looked like a smoothie and that's when he noticed that a pair of bright blue eyes were on him, but not from the blond at his side.

"There's two of you now, Roxas?" Axel asked with a quirked brow. "I can have _a lot_ of fun with two Roxas'." The smirk that followed did nothing to appease the blushing boy on his left. Sora however, looked amused and suddenly all too aware of the real situation at hand. Unfortunately for his cousin, the brunet wasn't as dense as he made out to be.

"Hiya! I'm Rox's cousin, Sora." He held out a hand to the newcomer and shook the hand offered with a wide grin. Roxas' sexual orientation had never been at question to him before seeing how uncharacteristically flustered the blond was. Oddly enough, it didn't really surprise him.

"Pleased to meet you, So-ra. I'm Axel," the red-head pointed to his uniform name tag. "Does being cute run in the family or something?"

Sora noted with mirth how Roxas' cheeks just seemed to darken. Never before in his life has he seen his cousin so completely embarrassed and at a total loss for words. It was both refreshing and entertaining.

"Eh, yeah it's a curse. Poor Rox is plagued by it." The brunet pointed to the boy sat opposite and the pain promising glare sent in return was almost enough to make Sora regret having said it. Almost.

Axel laughed and raised the arm from the back of the seat to ruffle Roxas' hair. The poor blond looked about ready to crawl under the table and die quietly at any moment.

"AX!"

The red-head returned his arm to its resting place and raised a free hand to a tall blond making his way over from the entrance. Sora noted the case slung over the male's shoulder before said case was removed and propped up against the side of the table. Sitting in the vacant chair opposite Axel, the new blond began an animated speech.

"New club opens Saturday Ax! Sanctuary—right on the centre of town, yeah." He gestured widely with his arms. "They have live bands on Saturdays; we HAVE to get a gig there!" Another exaggerated arm gesture. "I don't care if I have to whore you out to the freaking DJ or whatever it takes, we just have to play there!"

"Wow, I'm fine thanks Demyx, and how are you?" Axel deadpanned and waited for his over excited friend to come back to reality for a moment.

The male dubbed Demyx noticed the blinking brunet at his side and the equally confused looking blond next to Axel. A brilliant grin took over his already elated expression and he momentarily forgot about his reason for even being there.

"You must be Roxas."

Having been addressed correctly by the stranger, Roxas gave a slow nod in reply.

"You've heard of me?"

Demyx gave a zealous nod of his own and began poking at Axel across the table causing the red-head to flinch and bat the offending appendage away. The tall blond continued poking even as he spoke.

"Ax told me all about you. Hasn't shut the hell up about _Rox-as _all freaking week!" He stopped poking to settle back into his chair. "You're the only reason he goes to work anymore." Demyx turned to the brunet. "And who's this?"

Axel glared at his friend and sighed. Too early in the…afternoon for Demyx.

"That's Rox's cousin, Sora." The red-head glanced towards the smaller of the two blond's and couldn't help but smirk when he caught Roxas' expression. If the boy blushed any harder, he'd probably pass out. Was he just someone easy to embarrass? Or was it the company he was in? Axel tapped Roxas lightly on the shoulder to get his attention, all the while ignoring Demyx who already seemed immersed in conversation with the brunet. He made fast friends…or just didn't care whose ears he talked off.

The blond teen caught the emerald gaze and again willed away the heat from his cheeks.

"You ok, blondie?" Axel asked with just the slightest hint of concern. "Don't take Demyx too seriously—the guys' a nut."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that already."

"I'm a what?" Demyx placed an elbow to the table and rested his chin on the upturned palm. He didn't even wait for a reply before making a sudden topic change.

"So, Sanctuary on Saturday. Great idea, I know." He avidly nodded his head as to confirm his own words before turning to Roxas. "You and Sora should come too. You're sixteen right?"

Sora tilted his head to one side with confusion. "Don't we have to be eighteen?"

A wide grin lit Demyx's face and waved a dismissive hand. "Details—I know the guy on the door, he'll let you in if you're with me and Ax."

Axel looked hopeful as he smiled down at Roxas and the blond didn't feel he could say no, even if he wanted to.

"Okay, I'll come."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

FINALLY! Ch5-done. –Victory dance-

I hate writing block. I wanna hog-tie it and kick it in it's metaphorical –censored-

See you all next time! Luffooo

Cookies/reviews are always welcome!

Hugs are too. Don't forget hugs. :3


	6. Sanctuary

Disclaimer: Despite my best efforts, i still do not own these beautiful characters v.v -cries hot manly tears-

Notes: SO long since an update...-hangs head in shame- Oh spank me now v.v No really, please do o.o I have my cup of tea and a cookie LETS DO THIS! YEAHHH! O.O

_MrSpoonLovesYou: _Thank you for the cookies! They were so yum that I was like 'YUM! Those are some nice cookies!' And Leon and Cloud make me giggle too XD

_WhisperingNights: _Cookies AND hugs! Thank you! As for the Riku Kairi thing, I'm sure you and everyone else knows it's temporary and Riku is denial. Poor guy v.v A club called Sanctuary by you!? FUN! Any Axel and Dem there?!

_CelticGoddess09: _Riku will eventually get to vent :p and YUS! Leon and Cloud belong together! Do you need to ask who Demyx is paired with? XD I love the pair so much :p And the Sora lying to Riku hasn't been explained yet, but will be pretty soon, so you have not missed anything :D

Thank you for reviews and hugs and cookies and all that good stuff that makes me happy!

-Incipient-

-6: Sanctuary-

_Click_

"Welcome to the home shopping channel! Next up--"

_Click_

"Hi Spongebo--"

_Click_

"It's time to DUEL!"

_Click_

"Pikachu, I CHOOSE YOU!"

_CLICK CLICK CLICK!_

Early Saturday morning TV sucked in Riku's opinion. Being up before eleven was something like a shock to the system to the teen and it wasn't an activity he was growing fond of too quickly. He didn't need the random stuff the shopping channels were selling either.

Riku slumped down further into his cushioned chair, remote still at hand and constantly flicking for something-- anything of interest. Countless images flashed by with each click but nothing caught his eye. He gave up looking.

With the TV now off and his legs hooked over the back of the couch, Riku stared upside-down at the wall opposite with a bored fascination... lost within his own thoughts and theories on just why an early Saturday morning sucked so damn much. They were never boring with Sora, not once. In fact, it was the only time Riku would get up early on a weekend. A sleepover with his best friend was always like that; go to bed late, get up early. Sora loved watching the cartoons which was just fine with the silveret; he was content laughing at his friend who laughed at the TV. But now...

It just plain sucked.

The fair haired teen ignored the phone when it rung, he was far too occupied with thoughts of mornings four years old and hadn't realized two hours had passed until a figure-- a person obstructed his upside-down view of the wall. Raising his eyes to the face of the intruder he concluded that it was in fact his brother...yes, most definitely Sephiroth.

"What do you want?" Riku allowed his gaze to drop once more in an attempt to recapture the wall's... subtle magnificence. It was quite the difficult task until the tall man moved to sit at his side.

Sephiroth crossed one leg over the other and extended his arms along the back of the couch and over his upside-down bother's legs. It was HIS house damnit, and he'd put his limbs where ever the hell he wanted.

"It's nine a.m, what's wrong Riku?"

"I can't be up early without there being something wrong?"

"No, _you_ can't." The older silveret turned to look down at the mopey teen with indifference. It was just so...Un-Riku like to spend a Saturday morning staring at a wall in his boxers and a shirt. Sephiroth hadn't expected to see him stamp his way down the stairs until at least 10:30. "Kairi phoned."

"..."

"She said to call her back."

"Will do."

A few moments passed by in a tense silence and wasn't broken until the faint sound of feet on stairs invaded said silence. A tall brunet male stopped at the bottom to observe the brothers in their unusual version of sibling affection; as odd and unaffectionate as it was it did the job for them. The newcomer thought of returning back up the stairs and leave the two to their rare moment of _bonding _but he was caught before he could retreat.

Riku raised a hand over the back of the couch for a short wave accompanied by a quiet "Morning Genesis."

Genesis nodded in reply then gave his own verbal greeting when he realized Riku couldn't see him.

"You're up early, Riku."

Two pairs of aqua eyes followed the brunet's movements from the stairs over to the chair where he sat down and Riku noted the man was wearing his brother's clothes. Recalling a conversation he had had earlier that month with Sephiroth, the younger silveret decided that _'Genesis and I are just friends' _was an increasingly obvious lie.

"And you're too old to be having sleepovers." Riku lightly kicked the arm draped over his legs away and sat upright for the first time that morning. He wasn't surprised to see a pair of blue eyes narrowed at him and as always; Sephiroth looked entirely unfazed.

A few moments of staring at Riku's smirking face was all it took for Genesis to excuse himself to the kitchen. The last thing he needed that morning was to be arrested and charged for assault on a cocky teen.

"Riku…"

"Mm?" The teen in question turned to look at his brother with narrowed eyes. Sephiroth wasn't looking at him again and he _hated _it. "What?"

Taking his time to reply, the older male took to his feet and started in the direction Genesis had taken moments before. He stopped at the door, not needing to turn around to know Riku was glaring at him for his usual display of arrogance and superiority… but the boy needed to learn his place.

"I'm making breakfast. Don't forget to call Kairi."

"…"

"And Riku…"

"**WHAT?" **Older brothers could be so infuriating…

"Drop the attitude _little brother."_

When the door closed Riku contemplated throwing something at it. But he thought the better of it.

0o0o0o0

Cloud cringed when he heard the footsteps outside his bedroom door. It wasn't one set of footsteps either; it was three and he could bet money on who they belonged too. With a quick scan of his room he realized that he had no hiding places to seek refuge in… he'd have to remedy that sometime. So with little else to choose from, Cloud steeled himself for his less than picture perfect afternoon.

"CLOUD! G'afterternoon moody bastard, we have a proposition for you." Rikku grinned widely as she made herself comfortable on her cousin's bed. Roxas and Sora followed her in shortly after; the blond looking scandalized over his sister's choice of words and the brunet appearing to have no problem with it. After all, the description fit him rather well.

Closing the book he was reading, Cloud set his impassive gaze on the intruders.

"Whatever it is, my answer's no."

Sora gave his brother the best puppy dog eyes he could muster and to anyone's standards it was adorably hard to say no to. Unfortunately, he used them on the one person who was immune. Cloud stared at him unchanged.

"At least hear us out, you big meanie!" Rikku sat up and whacked him on the arm to add to his growing annoyance. "You can't say no until you have something to say no to!"

Roxas stood awkwardly by the door. He never did like getting on his older cousin's bad side.

"Well ask me then, and get out." Cloud's patience was growing thin…already.

Rikku quirked a brow at him. "And get out? Don't you mean 'or' get out?"

"No, I don't."

"Gah! SO mean…" she whacked once more for good luck. "We wanted to know if you'd like to pull that stick out of your ass and come out with us tonight?"

"RIKKU!"

The blonde female waved a dismissive hand at her younger brother. Sora again appeared unfazed.

Cloud reopened his book and pointed to his door with the free hand. "No, now get out."

"Oh come on Cloud! It's the opening of Sanctuary and _everyone_ has to be there."

"I said no. Now get out."

Rikku sighed in defeat and shuffled off of her moody cousin's bed. She took a hold of Sora by the wrist who gave a big smile and a wave to his brother before being escorted from the room along with Roxas.

When all three had arrived at the end of the hall within the sanctuary of Sora's room, they set about their next task.

Rikku pulled her phone from her pocket and made a call to her two best friends in the world. Sora climbed into his closet, raided his drawers and searched under his bed for what to wear later that evening… but just what did one wear to the opening of newest and hottest club around? Well… he really had no idea. As for Roxas, the thought had not yet crossed his mind.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rikku asked as she pocketed her phone. Her eyes scanned over the mountain of shirts and pants covering Sora's bedroom floor and at once the problem became clear.

"I don't know what to wear! Rox, what're you wearing?" The brunet climbed out of his now almost emptied closet and dropped to his knees beside the shirt mountain to look once more.

Roxas gave a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't know and he didn't care.

"You're both hopeless! Come with me."

The two boys handed their fate over to an excitable female and the eyeliner she held in one hand.

0o0o0o0

He couldn't help but smirk every time he looked down at the blond walking at his side. Axel hadn't really seen him wearing anything but school uniform and he hadn't pinned Roxas as being the type for black, checks, belts and eyeliner, but here he was—all of the aforementioned. It became clearer though when the red-head had knocked on his door to be greeted by a scantily clad female. He didn't know much about Roxas' family beyond Sora, but here was another strange Strife to add to the list.

Sora had been forced into the same style, minus the checks, plus some red and seemed far more comfortable than his fairer haired cousin. Axel soon concluded that the brunet just didn't seem to care either way.

"You guys walk to slow! We're going ahead." Rikku waved a hand to her male companions before taking off with Yuna and Paine who had joined the group soon after Axel's arrival.

"See you there!" Sora called out and waved a hand in return with silly grin.

The brunet had spent the majority of the journey walking beside Demyx who ranted tirelessly about his band and its undeniable awesomeness. Sora learnt about Xigbar: the eye-patch wearing bassist, Marluxia: the flamboyantly _straight _keyboardist and Larxene: the bands very own resident psychopath…Oh, and she was pretty damn good on the drums or so he was told.

"And don't worry about Larxene, Ax has her under control—Right Ax?!" Demyx nudged his friend to get his attention and was rewarded with a grin and a nod.

"Right, I'll be on Larx patrol until I'm too drunk to remember or care."

The rest of the walk was full of idle chat about nothing in particular. Demyx pointed out the phallic properties of a tree they passed and Axel had gone into detail about how the tree reminded him of a friend at which point, no one really wanted to know anymore. And finally they arrived at the painfully long line outside of Sanctuary. Rikku spotted them and waved from her slightly higher spot in the line but was pointedly ignored when she stuck her tongue out and gestured that she would be getting in first. Pffffft, as if Demyx would have that...he knew the guy working the door! Lex would let him in-- no problem. And that was why the tall blond looked betrayed and offended when he had been told to get back in the damn line. Gah, stupid Lex. Demyx made sure to give him the finger when they finally arrived at the front of the line.

Forty five minutes and two drinks later, Sora found himself sat between a pink haired male and an irritated blonde female; both of which were having a conversation quite literally over his head. He assumed they were Marluxia and Larxene he had been told about earlier, so he felt safe enough. Axel had promised to stay near by just in case Larx decided mercy was for the weak and Sora...well he just had an unfortunate seat at her side. Speaking of Axel...

Sora searched the general vicinity for signs of his potential red-headed saviour but came up empty. Come to think of it, after buying Roxas his third drink he had disappeared along with Demyx. The brunet suddenly felt trapped and somewhat vulnerable. His cousin was slumped half over the table opposite and swirling the neon blue liquid in his glass with the utmost concentration. A lot of help he would be if the blond next to him turned her feminine wrath his way.

"So, Sora was it? How old are you? twelve...thirteen?" Larxene leant in her seat and rested her elbow on the back, glass in hand. Her eyes narrowed in on his face and Sora became acutely aware that Marluxia mirrored her scrutinizing expression. He took a moment to think over the question and wondered if they would kill him for giving his real age. Maybe he should just go along with twelve or thirteen.

"Uh, sixteen." He smiled awkwardly.

"Right. And you go to HB High?" Why the hell did she look like she was plotting his death behind those sharp blue eyes...it was completely unnerving!

Sora nodded in response and tried to go to his happy place in the recess of his mind. There were rainbows and sunshine and flowers and Larxene's freaking eyes. Happy place not so happy.

Maybe if he could sink down under the table he'd be able to crawl out and make a daring escape. Sparing a glance downwards, he decided against it. Marluxia had his legs crossed at the ankles, blocking the only escape route and the way Roxas was slouched now semi-conscious didn't help much either. If Sora were to sink below the table, it would appear to onlookers as though he were a tad to fond of his cousin.

Larxene took a sip of her drink and placed the glass on the table. It seemed as though she was considering sparing Sora's life and getting up to move, or preparing to carry out a horrific and undoubtedly rather painful murder upon his person. Lucky for him, she had favoured the former over the latter. The blonde and her pink haired friend took to their feet and left for the dance floor. Sora sighed in relief.

Somewhere towards the opposite end of club...the farthest wall to be specific; stood Demyx and his best friend for life. Neither of them had meant to leave their minor friends at the mercy of Larxene but desperate times called for desperate measures. At present, the blond guitarist was in search of Sanctuary's DJ with the help of Axel and some random and very alcoholic smelling drink courtesy of a ditzy looking girl sat at the bar. Never one to turn down a free drink, Demyx gave his thanks before disappearing making a casual escape into the crowd of dancing bodies, pulsing music and flashing lights.

The reason for seeking out one DJ in particular was very simple you see. Sanctuary had live bands play on both Friday and Saturday nights (with the exception of the opening night) and there was only one person with the authority to permit a band to play on their stage. And that one person just happened to be the DJ and son of the club's owner. So there really was no way in hell Demyx was leaving without getting a gig or getting escorted via the bouncer...which would probably be Lex.

Finding the guy was the easy part; talking to him was something else entirely.

Demyx watched and waited as the current DJ's song came to a stop and he left his post to be replaced by someone else, which the blond found to be slightly odd, but thought no more on it. This was his chance, that guy, the one who just left the decks and descended the stage stairs; he was the one he had to talk to. It was easier said than done when a door which read 'private' stood between him and his current source of anguish.

"AH! What can we do now Ax?" Demyx flailed his arms regardless to the drink in his hand but amazing managed to spill very little. "We have to get in there! Do you think we could get past that bouncer guy near the door? Shame it's not Lex."

Axel eyed his friend and chuckled at his expense. "Like hell Lex would let you in anyway. You saw how little your friendship helped you earlier."

"Then how can I get in?" the blond seemed thoughtful, "Ideas Ax, I need ideas." But apparently had very few ideas of his own.

As if lady luck owed him a favour, the bouncer near the door left his post when a distressed looking bar maid whispered something in his ear about an insane blonde lady with antennas.

"Now's my chance!" Demyx shoved his glass into Axel's hands and approached the 'Private' door. With a hand raised at the ready to knock, the blond became confused when his fist met air. He blinked once, twice in confusion and looked down to see a head of slate coloured hair and one very blue eye glaring at him. Demyx removed his balled fist from the air and rubbed the back of his neck with a wide grin. "Ah, hi there. Just the guy I wanted to se-"

"No."

"e..huh?"

The slate haired boy stood almost a head shorter than Demyx as he stormed past him and into the crowds. The blond guitarist took this chance to blink...again.

"Wow, smooth." Axel moved to stand at his friend's side with an empty glass and the distinct smell of alcohol on his breath. "I think he likes you."

"Well fuck me, that went well."

The red-head smirked and rested a bony elbow on the other's shoulder. He looked into the emptiness of his glass and wondered what the hell it was he had just drunk, but deciding he didn't care anyway, his attention drew back to his friend. It looked as though their mission had just gained a higher difficulty rank.

"That one's charming. Got your work cut out for you Dem." Again thinking about what drink he had consumed on the blond's behalf, Axel came to the conclusion that he would actually quite like another one. Now where the hell was that ditzy girl who bought the drink?

Demyx scanned the crowd for any sign of slate coloured hair and was so busy in his task that he didn't notice when the elbow left his shoulder and his companion wondered off in the general direction of the bar. With further observation, he located his target.

Sitting in the far corner of the club at a very secluded table was the boy. He wasn't alone. To his left sat two girls with easy smiles and silly giggles, both of which looked completely taken with the table's male occupants. On the boys other side was a silver haired male with an arm draped lazily over the shoulder of a pretty red-headed girl. It was as good a time as any to again approach the boy who effectively, held his fate in his hands. A yes from him could mean big things for Demyx and his band.

Unaware of when he had started moving, the blond came to stop a few feet from the table and those inhabiting it. His presence went unnoticed until he slapped on that wide grin once more and started with a--

"Hi, sorry to disturb you again, but you didn't even hear me out back there." And all eyes fell on him.

The boy with the slate hair and his one visible black-rimmed-blue eye stared without expression for a moment just contemplating the fact that this moron had the nerve to approach not once, but twice. Did the blond even know who he was talking to?! Well...yeah of course he did. It was the reason he was even there in front of their table after all.

After another moment of awkward stretched silence, the boy replied.

"I didn't need to hear you out to know what you want." His eye narrowed and the silveret beside him smirked in amusement.

"But I just wanted-"

"You want me to say yeah, your band can play here like every other person who has had the audacity to ask me tonight without so much as an introduction."

Demyx raised a finger as if to make a point and was about to speak before the silver haired boy beat him to it.

"To be fair, Zexion, he did say hi first." This earnt him an annoyed look from the one dubbed 'Zexion'.

The guitarist was actually about to make that very point but was silently thankful that someone else had beaten him to it. This Zexion looked as though he could have quite the fiery little temper on him and was definitely not someone that Demyx wanted to be on the wrong side of.

Too late for that.

"Look, uh.." the DJ paused and fixed the blond with another glare.

"Demyx...my name's Demyx.." he added rather helpfully.

"Right, Demyx. I don't owe you or anyone else any favours so don't come looking for one."

Back over at the other side of the club, Sora still sat facing his semi-conscious cousin with his own half empty, maybe half full glass of god knows what. He'd never been to a club like this one before; mainly due to the fact he was barely sixteen and the only clubs he could legally get into held little interest to him back on Destiny Islands. Not that this one wasn't interesting. Taking a proper look around for the first time since arriving, Sora decided he quite liked the colour scheme. Very blue, white and neon. The whole place reminded him of and icicle; even the swirling lights tracing the dance floor were different shades of blue and a very icy white. It would have felt cold if it wasn't for the mass of bodies grinding to the deafening pulse of what now, with the new DJ taking charge, seemed to be an original mix of trance music. Sora wasn't having a bad time, but he was a little bored. Maybe he should have taken up the offer to dance with the guy he had dubbed 'sex crazed rapist'. After another thought on why he had chosen that particular name, the brunet agreed with himself that 'no thanks' was the safer option even if it was a little boring.

Roxas stirred in his...sleep? Sora grinned and suppressed a laugh as an ingenious plan formulated in his spiky head. Perhaps ingenious was too ambitious, but it was a pretty decent plan on all accounts. He extended an index finger and slid his hand across the table's surface to stop just before his cousin's head. Retracting the finger towards his thumb, he held it for the tension and with a slow countdown from three to one in his head he freed the digit and effectively flicked the head of blond. Ingenious to a fault.

The small blond stirred again but did little else much to Sora's disappointment. Well that was an anti-climax.

"Blah..."

Demyx arrived back at their table, dropped down to the chair next to the brunet and sunk down to rest his head back with a dejected sigh. When no one asked him what was wrong, he shuffled and sighed a little louder.

"What's wrong Dem?" Sora asked.

"I pissed off the only guy who can give my band permission to play here." He turned his head and pouted in the smaller boy's direction. "We have to play on that stage! Any ideas short stuff?"

Sora frowned at being referred to as 'short stuff' but shrugged it off along with a "Nope. No ideas, sorry."

"Maybe I can serenade him and buy him flowers." Demyx tapped his chin in thought and flinched when Axel fell into the chair next to him; a few drinks merrier than when they had separated not to long ago.

"Dem, dude...you want his approval, not his hand in marriage." The red-head swung an arm around the blond's shoulders and stared to the opposite side of the table where another blond rested face down, head in his folded arms. "What's wrong with Roxas?"

Roxas stirred again and raised his head when hearing his name. His eyes were half lidded and he looked quite thoroughly wasted even by Axel's standards. Counting the empty glasses they had all had between them, the red-head came to the conclusion that his tiny yellow haired friend had finished an impressive six by himself already. Who the hell was buying the kid drinks?! He was sixteen!

"I think he's had too much." Sora made known and patted down his cousin's more wild than usual spikes. "No one buy him anymore."

Demyx decided that the attention had been off of him for a few minutes too long and took his chance to remedy it.

"We need a plan Ax, that dude is an asshat."

Axel snorted when Roxas' head hit the table and gave a quick nod of acknowledgement to the blond next to him. They needed a plan indeed! Just when he was in the midst of formulating said plan, Demyx spoke again.

"And his shiny silver haired friend is also an asshat. Wait, no, everyone on that table is an asshat." He folded his arms over his chest to finish his point.

Sora's interest peeked. Silver hair? It wasn't exactly a common colour and he knew only two people with it...so he just had to ask.

"The guy with the silver hair," he started, fiddling awkwardly with his half empty maybe half full glass. "Was he kind of pale with greenish-blue eyes?"

Demyx turned to look at him and nodded. "Yeah, really bright aqua, cocky smirk and a pretty red-head on his arm. Asshat."

Axel snorted and slumped onto the table in a drunken giggle fit over the excessive use of the word 'asshat'.

"That has to be Riku."

The tall blond brightened and leant towards his spiky haired friend with renewed vigour and an excitable grin. "You know him?! You know Zexion's friend? That's perfect." He reached out and pulled Sora into an uncomfortably tight hug before the brunet could say anything more. "You can put in a good word for me, or something because you're so awesome and I am so awesome and-"

"Demyx! Calm down and listen to me for a sec please?"

Demyx loosened his hold on the smaller boy to give him room to breathe.

"Thanks. Ok, first of all, I don't know for sure if it is Riku." The blond pouted at this but Sora continued regardless. "And second, if it is Riku, we aren't on speaking terms. We aren't friends and I hate the guy."

Taking a moment to register this new and painfully disappointing information, the guitarist sunk low in his seat and sighed. Back to square one. Unless...

He shoved a disgruntled Axel out of the seat, leaving the red-head in a hazy tangle limbs on the floor and a free exit from the table. With a brilliant smile, Demyx took a hold of Sora's wrist and dragged the boy out into the crowd before he could protest and lead him towards the other side of the club.

"Over there." The blond pointed out from their cleverly chosen spot on the edge of the dance floor. It was a perfect place to spy from; not too close but not to far and the mass of surrounding bodies was easy enough to blend into. If they weren't the only ones standing perfectly still.

Demyx pointed to Zexion's table between the narrow gap of dancers now obscuring their view. The slate haired teen was looking in their general direction with disinterest, but the blond was suddenly overwhelmed with the paranoia of being spotted obviously spying. His brunet partner in crime looked equally as anxious.

"We look weird just standing here, and I can't see." Sora leant a little to his left in an attempt to look past the dancing bodies but to no avail. And he was sure he saw Rikku and Yuna at some point. He definitely didn't want to be caught by either of them.

"I have an idea, just go with it." The guitarist pulled Sora's smaller frame quite closely to his own and the suddenly bewildered brunet was lost as to how having Demyx's hands on him was a good plan by any description.

"Whoa HEY that's my ass!"

"I said just go with it."

And he did. Just like every other pair of writhing bodies in the large crowd, Sora found himself grinding with his dance partner to the delirious pulse of trance music below the flashing lights that reminded him so much of ice. With Demyx's hands so dangerously low on his hips, he was guided and followed the blond's every movement until minutes had flown past without his consent and he lost all sense of time. Time, however, came back to him when the bodies previously blocking his sight had moved and he was given the perfect view of who he assumed was Zexion. Slate coloured hair, blue eyes, an expression that blamed the world for his misfortunes; and the guy next to him...

Demyx pulled him closer yet, Sora's small back against his chest and their movement's never ceasing. The blond leant closer to the smaller boy's ear to ask him:

"Is that him?"

Sora wasn't sure how determining whether Zexion's friend was Riku or not would help either of them anyway. Even if it was, he hated the guy so what difference did it make.

"Yeah...that's Riku."

Sharp aquamarine eyes narrowed and fell upon the sea of dancers. He could tell Kairi wanted to be one of them, but he couldn't find it in himself to ask the girl to dance or to even care that she was too shy to ask. It wasn't that he didn't or couldn't dance; it was the exact opposite in fact... Riku considered himself to be rather good at it and others had agreed with him. The problem was-- and this problem bothered him quite a bit-- that he didn't want to dance with Kairi: his own girlfriend. And more to the point, looking around he hadn't felt a desire to dance with anyone. That really was most unlike him.

Riku shifted uncomfortably in his seat, careful not to disturb Kairi too much. He took a quick look at Zexion. The boy was brooding again.

"I'm getting another drink, anyone want one?" He looked to his girlfriend in question. "Kairi?"

She nodded once with a small smile as he removed his arm from her shoulders to stand. "Yeah, thanks Riku."

The rest of the table's occupants graciously declined the offer.

"Be back in a few." Riku carefully removed himself from his friends and stretched his arms out over his head followed by a somewhat tired yet content sigh. He watched the dance floor in irritation, looking for the least dense route across it towards the bar and its many alcohols. Damn Zexion and his choice of tables.

Scanning the crowd one last time, Riku stopped and he stared. And he stared some more. And he kept on staring when Sora stared right back with his very blue eyes shining under the intense flashes of the dance lights. The brunet's small body writhed, grinded, moved both with and against... that weird guy from earlier?!

It took everything Riku had not to gape and march right over to the pair to demand to know what the hell they thought they were doing. Well, it was probably as obvious to them as it was to the silveret and everyone else what it was they were doing, but he couldn't help but wonder why. What the hell? That was _Sora. _Twelve year old Sora with his cheesy grins, heart warming smiles and boundless optimism. Sora; the spiky haired brunet who laughed at Saturday morning cartoons and made the freaking best pancakes Riku had ever tasted. But _this _Sora wasn't twelve and the grin that took his lips was anything but heart warming...it was damn right sadistic! His eyes shone with mirth; it was as though he could feel what he was making the silveret feel and was loving every second of it. And when a tan hand wound its way into blond hair, Riku couldn't even begin to fathom why his chest hurt and he felt so betrayed.

Before his mind could process it and before he could stop himself, Riku was moving forward and calling out across the floor.

"Sora!"

His name was called and his body halted to a stop becoming rigid. Demyx glanced over Sora's shoulder at the source of the boy's sudden discomfort. He frowned; pulling the brunet back a little further onto the dance floor to hide him from this Riku guy. The silver haired teen obviously threw Sora off for some reason, but Demyx would find out later, for now he just wanted to get back to their table without conflict. Besides, he had left Axel in a drunken state on the floor and knowing his best friend, it was likely he hadn't yet moved.

"Come on Sora." The guitarist set his hands on the boy's shoulders and turned him around to lead him towards the opposite side of the club. Roxas was still probably semi-conscious face down too. Although a little stupid, Demyx had to admit he was mildly impressed by the shorter blond's total disregard for his own health.

"Sora! Just wait a second!" Riku had no idea what he was going to say or do if he caught up to the brunet, all he knew was that he had to try. Pushing his way through the bodies and slapping away a few over zealous hands, the silveret caught sight of Sora's tall blond escort. He wasn't far away now. Just a little more.

"Riku Alexander! Where do you think you're going?" Two sets of hands latched onto both of his arms and brought him to an abrupt stop. Glancing over his shoulder with a desperate annoyance and need to escape, Riku's eyes met the smiling faces of Rikku strife and her best friend Yuna. Oh, definitely not good times.

"Let me go, I HAVE to talk to him."

"Tsk tsk, shame on you Riku, leaving Kairi over there all alone." Rikku shook her head and Yuna mirrored the action with her own 'tsk tsk'.

"But she's not alo-"

"TSK TSK RIKU!"

"I don't have time for this." Riku pulled his arms free and took off into the crowd once more only to find that...he'd lost his target. Sora was no where in sight and neither was his friend. Well darn.

0o0o0o0

Cloud couldn't think straight lately. It all seemed so fucked up and significant. Every time he would try to contemplate the disorganised mess of thoughts and the subtle chaos that was his life, it would all become a haze. And then he'd think of Leon.

He'd done that a lot over the past week.

One minute he would be working on his maths homework and the next he'd be wondering what his English teacher's age was, why the man chose to be called Leon over Squall, what he did in his free time and where he lived. Did he live alone? Maybe he had siblings, a best friend or even a girlfriend. Cloud frowned. No, he couldn't have a girlfriend.

It was odd really... he couldn't begin to understand what the man did to make him think of him almost constantly. Was it admiration? He hardly knew a thing about Leon to start admiring him.

Why wasn't he thinking about Tifa or any of the other girls who had shown obvious interest in him since he started Hollow Bastion High? Tifa was smart, pretty and the best friend of his best friend's girlfriend. It was perfect really; she was nice, but that was it. Nice. There was little more too it than that. When Cloud looked at her there were no questions he wanted answered, no mystery to unravel or any challenge to be set. Tifa was an open book.

He stared down at the open book in his hands. It was on the same page it had been on when Rikku, Sora and Roxas had invaded his Sanctuary to try and convince him to go to theirs. That had been hours ago. Finishing the chapter just wasn't going to happen that night so Cloud folded the corner of his current page and dropped the book onto his pillow. He'd get back to that another time.

A few minutes later and the blond was sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. He was so damn bored and didn't even have any homework to finish thanks to his lunchtime sessions in Leon's classroom. Leon-- he was thinking about Leon again.

"What's wrong Cloud?"

He stayed silent as his mother pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the table to sit and didn't speak until prompted with a little tap on the head. When he looked up, Ashe was watching him with her usual motherly concern.

"I'm fine."

"Give me a little more credit than that hun, I know when something's wrong with either of my sons." She gave a small smile. "So, is it something that can benefit from coffee or hot chocolate?"

Cloud couldn't help but give his own small smile in return. "The chocolate sounds pretty good."

Ashe got up from her chair to turn on the kettle and search the cupboards for cocoa. Her search didn't last long and she turned to face her oldest son while the water boiled.

"Are we going to talk about it?" She asked.

Cloud shook his head and looked genuinely apologetic. "Sorry, I'm just not sure exactly what's wrong yet."

"Ok Cloud, you tell me when you're ready." Ashe turned back to the cocoa and the next few minutes passed on in silence and sugary hot chocolate.

"Why didn't you go out with the others tonight?"

The blond teen looked up from his drink and thought quickly over two options. On one hand, he could lie and say a social club wasn't his thing; and on the other, he could say that he didn't feel like going to the opening of a club his brother was too young to legally get into. Ashe didn't know that tiny little detail of course. However, she could do in a few minutes if Cloud felt the sadistic urge to exact revenge upon his brother and two cousins for their earlier invasion of his privacy. Oh what a dilemma...

"I didn't want to go to the opening of a clu-"

"Aunty Ashe! I am returning this!"

Rikku stood in the kitchen doorway with a slightly disorientated Sora just behind her. Cloud frowned at his younger brother's obvious stupidity for drinking a few too many that night and got up from his chair to lead the brunet to his room and more than likely scold him.

"Thank you Rikku." Ashe smiled over to her niece. "Where's Roxas?"

"Ah, don't worry about Roxas, he's leaving later with some friends." The blond grinned, thinking that sounded better than 'he was too drunk and too heavy for me to drag home myself'.

0o0o0o0

Roxas groaned when bright sunlight entered the room. Roxas groaned again and writhed when that bright sunlight burnt his only just opening eyes. What the hell was the time? The blond rolled over onto his side, cursing all things alcohol, spirits and hangovers while he searched for his clock only to find that said clock was not there. In fact, the table the clock should have been on wasn't even there. Looking down, Roxas saw that the bed sheets he was so comfortably wound into were not blue like his own, but a deep red instead. The pillows were red, the room was all together just... very red. Where on earth was he?! Was this hell? Did he get alcohol poisoning and die then end up in hell?! Wow, not what he expected...hell was actually pretty comfortable.

Roxas rested his head back down, initial panic dying down and coming back full force when he felt something next to him stir. Looking over his shoulder very quickly and again cursing his hangover, the blond's eyes fell on the sleeping form of another blond, a familiar blond. A Demyx wearing nothing but sea blue boxers.

He looked down at his own body to see that he too was wearing only his boxers. What the hell happened last night?! Was this Demyx's bed?!

The tall blond rolled over and his eyes blinked open.

"Mm, g'morning Roxas." Demyx stretched, yawned and pulled the increasingly worried looking teen into a lazy embrace. "Last night was insane! Thanks for that by the way, didn't know you had it in you."

Roxas was mortified. No, he was beyond mortified. He struggled free of his friend's...lovers? hold and sat up, edging towards the other side of the bed.

"What? Where am I? What did we do?" His cheeks were burning, his head was spinning and he was thankful that he hadn't eaten much the night before.

"Don't act like you don't remember." Demyx smirked and sat up to look at him. "There's no way you could forget something like that."

Roxas felt like he was going to faint...

The bedroom door creaked open leaving a just showered Axel in its wake with a glass of water in one hand and pills in another. His cat-like eyes narrowed in on the taller blond and he shook his head.

"Can't leave you alone for two minutes without you causing trouble, Dem. I told you to make toast." The red-head walked round to Roxas' side of the bed and held out the water and pills. "For your head."

The teen blinked and accepted them with thanks, panic not subsiding one bit. Axel seemed to notice and laughed.

"Don't worry, no one touched you. Dem's being an ass."

The panic eased...a little.

"So why am I here?"

"You got pretty wasted Roxas. Rikku said your parents would flip if they saw you."

The small blond nodded slowly at this but found another fault.

"So it's better that I spent the night in a stranger's bedroom who for all she knows, could be a raging paedophile?"

Axel laughed again, as did Demyx.

"She said she'd tell them you stayed with some Hayner guy or something."

Roxas nodded again. That plan sounded ok by him.

Thirty minutes later and the pills were finally starting to have the slightest effect. Demyx had disappeared into the kitchen after ditching the idea of toast for something more exciting but had yet to return leaving a Roxas leant back against the bed's headboard alone. As for Axel's whereabouts, he wasn't sure.

For the first time since waking, the blond teen took a proper look at his surroundings. This was the red-head's bedroom, he had learnt. Maybe that explained the red he seemed so fond of.

Roxas glanced around the walls noticing photos; a lot of them. Most were in black and white and he could even recognise some of the photo's subjects. There was Demyx, Larxene, Marluxia, on a few occasions even Axel made an appearance along side his friends. A few were of the red-head's face, all from different awkward angles as though he were holding the camera on himself. Further along the wall, Roxas spotted one picture in particular that struck him as odd. Odd because HE was the subject. It was a candid shot taken from a distance. Roxas was sat at a table in Highwind with a pen in hand, a concentrated frown on his face as he did his homework and drunk his Axel made smoothie. Odd indeed.

Axel chose that moment to reappear in the doorway with a 35mm SLR camera at hand and pointing his way.

"Smile Roxas." He said and pressed on the shutter before the blond could register the request.

Blinking away confusion, the boy gestured towards the photos.

"I'm on your wall."

"Yes, you are."

"Why am I on your wall?"

Axel stared at him with a grin.

"I took your photo and put it there." He moved over to sit on the bed and placed the camera down beside him. "And now I have this one to add. Oh, and the ones from last night."

"Last...night? As in.. you took photos of me sleeping?"

When the red-head nodded as though it were the most normal thing in the world, Roxas felt that the 'raging paedophile' statement from earlier wasn't exactly far off. What-The-Hell?! Was it an everyday, ok kind of thing to do in Axel's world? Apparently so. It was weird that the blond didn't feel as uncomfortable with it as he maybe should have. On to a change of subject.

"Where's Sora?"

"Ah, Sora." Axel started and tapped his chin to recall events from the night before. "He stormed out after a run in with some guy or something, you'd have to ask Dem the details. We found him sitting outside and Rikku took him home."

"Riku."

"Yeah, Rikku did."

The blond shook his head. "No, I mean Riku-- the guy Sora saw must have been Riku."

"Oh..." Axel nodded despite not really understanding and Roxas sighed in relief just knowing his cousin was ok.

Another few minutes passed by quietly before anyone said anything more. Demyx still hadn't made an appearance since he started his 'make an epic breakfast' task and it didn't look like he'd be making one any time soon.

Roxas rubbed his eyes and did his best to stifle a yawn to no avail.

"Hey Axel, what's the time?"

"Twenty-seven past three...pm."

Roxas groaned and mourned the loss of his Sunday.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxxXxX

Omg, longest chapter yet for me! 7000 + words glee

I LOVE YOU GUYS! As always, reviews, cookies and hugs are welcome. Even the odd flame is welcome so I can get a lol out of it!  
Much love until next time love


	7. He wanted to play with fire

Disclaimer: No ownie. It sucks balls.

Notes: It's been a long time! Got back from University and decided I wanted to get back to writing in my free time. SO alas, I am continuing this. =) This is a fairly important chapter I had meant to do before I left for Uni, but drama got the better of me and it has been left until now. Oh my god the drama!

Again, thank you for your reviews/favs etc. They make me smile and laugh and motivate me to write more (which is mainly why 'Untitled' was written few weeks back.) So thank you =)

This chapter is Leon/Cloud orientated and sets the path for where I want things to go with them. Also, an explanation of Sora and Riku. Hope you like it :3

-Incipient-

-7: He wanted to play with fire -

Almost two months had passed since the other half of the Strife family had moved to the main-lands with it's suburban streets, crowded schools and somewhat quirky inhabitants. It was so much busier in comparison to Destiny island where they had come from. Nothing was in mass back there; you would be lucky to see more than a single soul on your way home from what they considered to be a town. It was strange really, the direct contrast made for such a different way of life as well as a far more sociable one. The weather was diverse too; unlike the island which was always sunshine and warm breeze, this place suffered most weather types within the space of a week! Yesterday had been cold and rain, the day before had been overcast but warm and today—well today was unbearably hot. What a _perfect_ day to have to attend school.

Locks of blond, sweat dampened hair stuck to Cloud's face as he rested his forehead against the surface of his desk. He felt lethargic, completely drained after only half of the school day having passed by and he wasn't the only one; an entire class of students sat draped over their work spaces and books with a lack of enthusiasm caused by the early afternoon sun. Not even Rikku could find the energy to make a nuisance of herself and that was indeed unusual.

Cloud preferred staring down at his desk today because it was quite simply the safest and most logical of choices. After all, this was Leon Leonheart's English lesson and much like his students, he had opted to taking off his jacket and hanging it over the back of his chair. Cloud felt the heat rise to his cheeks just thinking about it; Leon had been left wearing a tight, short-sleeved white shirt which left very little to the imagination. The blond tried hard, _so hard,_ not to notice the muscles and tendons of his teacher's arms and chest or even the way his jeans sat on his hips. He tried and he failed.

Leon had set tasks for the day's lesson before slumping into his chair and staring off out of the window while his students reluctantly started working. Cloud however, hadn't written so much as his name since he had sat down. His thoughts were too erratic and he was far too distracted by them to concentrate on anything else. Fortunately, Leon hadn't made eye contact or even passed a glace in the blond's direction since class begun and Cloud couldn't quite figure out if it disappointed him or if it was a blessing. Maybe the brunet was pointedly 'avoiding' him in the best way he could.

This was all getting way out of hand from Cloud's perspective, his thoughts were constantly being dragged back to Leon every time he would try to deviate away or think of something else. His dreams betrayed him too; innocent at first with nothing more than a minds depiction of the dark haired man but last night's dream—Leon's desk, Leon's skin, Leon's hands, lips and... that was another story altogether. It was wrong, so disturbing wrong and Cloud couldn't help but feel something was wrong with him and there was really no one he could talk to about it. Zack would probably have been the first to know if only there was anything normal about this _crush._

A bead of sweat rolled down past Cloud's ear and he was suddenly aversely aware of a hand resting on the desk by his cheek. He cocked his head to one side to look up with a hazy blue eye to see none other than staring right back down at him. While lost in his forest of thought, the blond hadn't noticed his teacher get up to check on his student's work and now he was there...beside him...wearing that shirt. Cloud's cheeks scorched and he sat up making sure to keep his eyes on his book.

"Something wrong Strife? You haven't written a thing." Leon glanced between a head of light coloured spikes and a blank page of 'work'.

Cloud riffled through his head for some excuse, anything that sounded better than: _"I was thinking about my dream; about us and your desk." _ Anything at all probably sounded better than that.

He sighed and propped his chin up with a hand while resigning to some truth.

"To be honest _Sir,_ I have a lot on my mind. I can't concentrate." No elaboration needed.

Leon leant over the blond's shoulder and began flicking pages through the boy's text book. By this point, some members of the class's silent students had looked to the back of the classroom to witness the quiet exchange of words.

"I can see that Cloud, you're working from a maths textbook in an English lesson."

A few chuckles flittered through the room and Cloud was suddenly very aware of everyone around him and the situation at hand. With Leon behind him and leaning over in that way it was incredibly difficult not to think about his close proximity or notice the hand flicking through his book; the same hand which stared in his dreams the night before. However, in said dream—that hand was most definitely not on a textbook. Cloud thanked the gods that no one was looking his way when his face flushed a violent shade of red. How absolutely mortifying! This was ridiculous, he had to find some way to pull his mind out of the gutter and set it instead on people his own age—girls his own age.

Tifa, she was a good and also a safe option. She liked him right? So perhaps talking to her after class some time and asking her out was a great idea. Tifa was Aerith's best friend, she was Zack's girlfriend. Not only did that option make perfect and logical sense, it was also legal.

Leon pushed away from his student's desk and headed towards a girl near the front who had asked for help. Cloud watched him walk away with a glazed expression, eyes shifting from his teacher, to Tifa and then back to the tall man. Tifa was pretty, most guys would do anything to date her so why did she hold no appeal to Cloud in that way at all? He watched as Leon crouched down beside the girl's desk and began answering a question she had asked. The blond took that moment to inadvertently analyze the older male because work really just wasn't going to happen that lesson.

It was impossible to look away after he started and he took in all he could about the brunet male, from the shape of his face to the contours of his body. It was similar to what he had pictured in his dream except here, in the real world, there were more clothes. What a pity.

Cloud watched the muscles in Leon's back flex and relax beneath his shirt every time he pointed at something in the girl's textbook. It was mesmerizing to watch and the blond didn't know if he should thank the hot weather or curse it for this outcome. Hormones were a bitch in Cloud's opinion and his own were playing the most malicious trick on him. Speaking of which; while lost within his own sea of perversion, the blond had failed to note the increasingly uncomfortable and embarrassing situation occurring beneath his desk but the situation became _hard_ to ignore before too long.

If his face could flush any darker, Cloud was certain he would pass out from lack of blood circulation. If he was mortified before- he was praying for someone or something to kill him now. Embarrassing didn't even come close!

Cloud looked up at the clock; with less than five minutes until lunch time and he needed to either get rid of his problem or find some reason not to get up when the bell rung. When it did ring, he chose simply to not move. The class slowly emptied and only the blond was left at the back of the room facing his teacher who stood by his own desk. They exchanged glances and the fairer of the two prayed his nonchalance could last out until he was able to move.

"You haven't got detention today Strife, you're free to leave."

"I know, I just have a few questions about work." Cloud lied.

Leon strode over towards his student's desk and leant over behind the blond to view his work from the same angle. It appeared that the blond hadn't managed a single line of writing within the entire hour's lesson.

"What part in particular are you finding hard?" Leon asked with genuine concern. He pulled up a chair from a nearby desk and sat next to his student ready to help him with his problem.

It took a moment for Cloud to think about how to answer. He wasn't really having any academic troubles that he needed assistance with—however, he thought up another lie.

"Our book report for next month, I'm not really sure what to write about."

"Oh?" Leon looked completely at ease, less intrusive and less observational than he had been in the past two months of lessons. Something seemed different. Cloud couldn't quite decide what it was while the brunet began firing off names of books the blond could look into and what kind of topics he could choose to write about. The student took little notice; he was far too distracted by watching his teacher's lips as he spoke.

"Or perhaps you could choose ..." Cloud couldn't hear. "It's an interesting topic to..."

The blond couldn't recall a single thing the man said. Leon shifted on his seat to face the boy in an attempt to get his attention but the other's glazed expression showed no signs of wisdom.

"Cloud, are you listening?" He was closer.

He couldn't really say how it had all happened because it simply made no sense. He couldn't recollect when he had leant forward, when his eyes had closed or when he had turned his head to level his teacher with a kiss. But there he was, lips pressed against Leon's—it was irreversible now.

It took a moment to sink in; the true weight of the action and how the hell it had gone from book reports to what it became was unimaginable. Leon braced his student's shoulders and pushed him gently away with a look of utter confusion. He was at a loss for how to deal with the situation and didn't know the correct course of discipline for such a thing. Did it require discipline? It was wrong, sure, but did it warrant punishment? Leon wasn't sure if detention was right for that kind of thing.

Cloud on the other hand looked both horrified and shocked. Did he really just do that? What the hell! He locked his wide panicked eyes onto his teacher's face and searched for validation or an answer to his unspoken question. _"Did I really just do that?" _

Neither male was aware of the time that passed before Leon stood up and took charge of the situation. He was the adult and the teacher so he felt it was his duty to set things straight. Whatever that was.

"I have no idea what the hell just came over you Strife, but it can't happen again. You could cost me my job pulling tricks like that." He had wanted to say it sterner; to berate the boy and put him in his place but it came out so matter-of-fact that it lost any impact. "It's lunchtime, you should leave."

Leon got up from his chair and paced back to his own the desk, all the while refusing to make eye contact with the bewildered student. He couldn't bare the strange new tension settling through the room and the sooner he was alone, the better. Cloud took his teacher's advice and left the classroom in record time.

0o0o0o0

"You're back late. Did you get held up?"

The feminine voice carried through the narrow hallway from the kitchen with the slightest hint of concern. She popped her dark-haired head around the corner with a welcoming smile and watched her boyfriend kick off his shoes by the door before shrugging off his jacket in one swift motion.

"I didn't know you'd be here Rinoa, I thought you had work." Leon said as he made his way into the kitchen. "I would have come back sooner if I had known."

The woman dubbed 'Rinoa' shuffled around the kitchen in an organised chaos while trying to make what looked like pasta; a simple task but she never had been the most amorous cook in the years Leon had known her. That was precisely the reason why he would usually be the one doing the cooking and he was pretty good at it too, if he did say so himself.

With the quite over cooked pasta served up, the brunette allowed himself to wind down from the stressful day while poking at his food with a fork. He had a lot on his mind lately- there was too much work to mark, he was into year two of his shaky relationship with Rinoa and then there was the little matter involving an awkward student.

"You look tired, you should sleep more." The concern was back in her delicate voice and Leon only nodded in reply. He didn't have much to say on the matter. In all honesty, he was looking forward to coming home to an empty apartment, taking a shower and going to bed, but Rinoa usually picked those times to come over. It was a mistake, Leon thought, giving the girl her own key. However, it was the lesser compromise over them moving in together...he liked living alone after all.

Rinoa gave a small sigh of her own and watched her apathetic boyfriend play with his food.

"You could at least tell me what's wrong. I can't help if I don't know."

Leon shrugged and the dark-haired female sighed again, this time in exasperation.

"Come on Leon, it's like talking to a brick wall!"

The brunet leant back in his chair and tilted his head to stare up at the plain ceiling in all it's dull magnificence. He contemplated a few things before deciding to placate his worried girlfriend with enough information to pacify her anxiety, but not enough to trouble her more than needed.

"I'm a bit behind with marking work and it's piling up so catch up is going to be tiring. Also having some trouble with a particular student but it's nothing I can't handle." That was surely both enough and not too much in his books.

Rinoa nodded her understanding but her curiosity was never easily halted. She knew Leon hated answering questions any more than he needed too; unfortunately for him, she liked asking them as much as he hated being asked. This precise fact is what made the girl question:

"A naughty student? Are they rowdy in class?"

_A naughty student? _It echoed in the man's mind for more than a moment. Did naughty describe it? His thoughts passed briefly over the events leading up to and including the kiss that never was and he decided that perhaps that was a good description of Cloud after all. In fact, he was entirely certain that the blond could be the very definition of _naughty,_ if given the opportunity. And maybe that was a good place to stamp out that train of thought.

"You could say that." Was all Leon supplied on the matter. "Are you staying the night?" he asked without any glimpse of hope or encouragement. That lack of romance really got on Rinoa's nerves but she nodded in reply.

"If you don't mind." She said with a pleasant smile.

Leon gave a nod similar to her own and got up from the table.

"Okay. I'm going to bed, make yourself at home." He mumbled before disappearing into his room and leaving his miffed girlfriend alone in the kitchen. How did it get to this?

The brunet thought over the current state of his life when he was in bed. He could hear her in the other room, in the kitchen clearing away plates and cutlery. He could hear the quiet patter of her feet against the tiled floor, cupboards opening and closing, he could even hear her quiet sighs every now and then. Leon wanted to feel guilty for letting things get this...this monotonous, but he couldn't.

Rolling over onto his side, the brunet allowed his thoughts to wander. He recalled the time that Rinoa had proposed the idea of moving in together and the prospect of marriage; how disastrous that had been. The conversation had ended with Leon walking out and Rinoa in tears; said topic hadn't arisen again but from that point on their relationship had strained. Everything was so unexciting now without any form of passion or desire and it left Leon feeling bored. He wanted to play with fire.

His thoughts rolled on timelessly until that little something niggling—tapping at the edges of his mind threatened to tear him apart and he couldn't help but think about him. Cloud—in all his teenage arrogance, cocky smirks and challenging defiance. That kid was a handful alright.

Leon would have to have been a moron not to realize that the boy was infatuated with him. Most students don't kiss their teachers, or at least, that is what the brunet was led to believe. But with that little piece of information being fact, Leon had to decide on how to best deal with the fragile situation. He was a teacher, he was twenty four, Cloud was his student. .It.

Sure, the blond was attractive by anyone's standards, even Leon could admit that and the kid had attitude to boot. He didn't want to confess to it but he liked that about the boy; his confidence and insecurity walked hand in hand which was entirely refreshing. Cloud both set and met his challenge, that boy was _volatile. _

The bedroom door creaked open and closed quietly as Rinoa entered less than an hour later. Leon still faced the window on his side, back to his girlfriend and eyes closed while he feigned sleep. He wanted to play with fire but was afraid of who would get burnt.

0o0o0o0

Cloud didn't get much sleep last night, in fact, he didn't get any. So when Sora bounded into his room in the early hours of the morning, he was less than impressed. It was a Saturday morning—a day most normal teenagers would spend in bed and out for the count but no, not Sora. The lively brunet switched on his older brother's TV in the corner of the room and took up the space next to the tired and somewhat irate blond.

He flicked through channels for some time until he finally settled on some early weekend cartoons like he always did. Cloud was pretty used to this familiar routine by now but it never got any easier, he just wanted to sleep.

"Morning Cloud, mum's making pancakes." Sora said in his quietest morning voice for that sake of his brother. He pulled the blankets over his legs and sat up against the headrest to give the blond more space; said blond rolled over onto his side facing the smaller boy and peered up with one hazy eye.

"Pancakes? That sounds pretty good actually." Cloud yawned and sat up, mimicking his brother's position against the headrest. His thoughts were still on Leon, still on that mindless kiss and he still couldn't quite get his head around how it all had happened. How absolutely hopeless the situation was. Cloud glanced down at Sora with a rare affectionate smile (unseen by all) and wondered how the boy managed to be so...carefree. He wished he could do the same; but being carefree was somewhat of a troublesome task when the fates seemed to be playing with you. What luck that his teenage hormones would direct themselves at an older male, who just happened to be his teacher. Oh yes the fates were playing with him. They were quite thoroughly fucking him over!

"You awake?" came a quiet voice from behind the door as it edged open so slowly. Ashe appeared in it's wake with a tray of pancakes and two glasses of orange juice. She eyed both boys sat up side by side and smiled. "I see Sora beat me too it."

The brunet beamed at the sight of pancakes and even Cloud couldn't help but smile a bit despite his somewhat macabre thoughts. Sora just had that affect on people.

It wasn't until late afternoon that Sora bothered to get up. Cloud had eventually fallen back asleep from exhaustion and the brunet saw fit to leave him too it. After a shower and a phone call to Roxas, Sora was sat alone in his room with afternoon cartoons now being his only company. He had plans for later at least—his fair haired cousin had invited him over to watch movies with both him and Namine. But until then, he needed to kill some time.

The doorbell rung downstairs and Sora heard Ashe answer it. There was a pause, a moment of silence before he could hear his mother's high pitched excitement over whoever the visitor was. He couldn't make out any words, just blurred slurs and different tones but his curiosity wasn't peeked. Ashe would often be over enthusiastic about any visitor as her motherly host instincts kicked in. Things quietened down for around twenty minutes before Sora's attention was drawn to the gentle knock on his door. He sat up more on his bed and gave a simple "come in" as a response.

The door opened, Riku walked in and the door closed once more with a light click. There was silence which seemed to stretch on forever as the two boys stared each other down.

It was Sora who spoke first.

"Who said you could come into my room?" he demanded, shoulders tense while he sat up more defensively.

"Technically, you did." Riku supplied, all matter-of-fact.

There was more silence and this time the silveret was the first to break it.

He stood awkwardly, trying to find the right words to say what he really wanted to say. It had been gnawing at him for weeks, no, years, and he had to get it all out before it drove him mad with regret.

"Sora, listen—"

"No, I don't want to hear anything _you _have to say." He was nothing if not consistent.

Riku sighed and moved to sit on the end of the brunet's bed without invitation and definitely without consent. Sora glared at him all the while but said nothing.

"I don't care if you don't want to hear it, I'm going to say it anyw-" Riku started but was interrupted.

"Of course you are, because you are selfish Riku and you don't care what I want." He folded his arms over his chest and chose to ignore the obvious hurt in the older teens face. He deserved it anyway, after what he did.

Pushing aside the sting of the brunet's harsh words, Riku continued what he wanted to say.

"I know I hurt you; I let you down and I know that no matter how many times I try to apologize it will never take back what I did, or be enough. I just-"

"Riku! You didn't tell me that you had to move away, I just had to watch you leave that morning without so much as a goodbye? Friends don't keep that kind of information from each other, nor do they leave without saying anything. You didn't even call me in all those years!" He was upset, frustrated, infuriated...it was completely beyond his comprehension. In Sora's mind, that wasn't how best friends should act.

Riku had known for over a month about his parent's divorce, about moving to Midgar with his mother and her boyfriend...but he hadn't said a word to his _best friend_. He just left that morning while Sora watched him in utter confusion and bewilderment. No phone call—nothing.

The silveret looked away from the floor and met Sora's glare with eyes full of the regret he had harboured for over four years.

"I tried to tell you I was leaving, but you would always interrupt with some cheery smile. I couldn't do it Sora, I couldn't be the one to make you frown." He laughed morbidly to himself, "pretty ironic I guess...here we are now."

"...you didn't call." The anger had ebbed away, but the upset remained in the brunet's strained voice. It made Riku want to reach out, to embrace him and tell him he was sorry a thousand times and more. He wanted to tell Sora how he had thought of him every damn day since.

"I picked up the phone several times. I even called, but when I heard your voice...I couldn't find anything to say. I hung up." His eyes closed as he fought back waves of emotion most would think him incapable of having. "I've regretted it every day."

"Riku, you weren't there for me when I needed you most. When dad died I needed y-"

"Noa died?" Aquamarine eyes shot open and fixated on the small boy with shock. This was the first he had heard of it, Riku had assumed he was at work. Tears began to form and fall silently as the news sunk in; it was surreal, so raw and painful as Noa had been more of a father to the silveret than his own dad. "I...what happened?" Riku wiped away his tears with the back of his hand but more replaced them. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea."

Moisture began to form in Sora's own blue eyes.

"You didn't know?" he asked quietly, "He was in an accident on his way home from work." he wiped at his own tears pointlessly. "It happened a week after you left." The last part sounded bitter even on Sora's lips.

"I had no idea. I-"

"You're always so wrapped up in yourself, of course you didn't know. I could have told you if you had phoned." The tears continued to run down his cheeks but his voice didn't wave one bit. Riku needed to know after all, he needed to know how self centred he was, how selfish he was, how he was the one who brought his best friend crashing down and then left him to burn.

Riku couldn't say anything even if he wanted to. The silent tears ravage his body as he took in all this new information and realized that, without much reflection, it was quite true. He was disgusted with himself; no wonder Sora wanted nothing to do with him, in fact, he was surprised anyone would.

"Do you know how hard it was to deal with all that without you? Without a best friend?" his small frame shook; he hid his face with his hands as quiet sobs riddled his body and before he knew it, Riku was next to him, embracing him like he should have four years ago with all the regret, resentment and grief he felt. Sora didn't push nor move away, instead, he cried and gripped at Riku's sleeve for longer than either boy cared to acknowledge. Then he cried some more while the silent tears continued to stream down the older teen's face. When both bodies eventually grew motionless and neither could find it in them to cry anymore, Sora pulled gently away and sat up. His eyes were puffy and red, his throat was sore and his body ached but he felt like a great weight had been lifted off of his chest.

Riku rubbed the palms of his hands over his face in a final act to clear the moisture then turned to the small brunet, and with a hoarse, quiet voice, he broke the silence.

"Listen...Sora." He started, and for once, he wasn't interrupted. "I know I've screw up more than once, and I know I wasn't there for you." He still wasn't interrupted and he was a little shocked. "I can't say sorry enough to make up for it, nor will I try but..." he paused and picked what he had wanted to say from the start. "Can we start over? Not asking to be your best friend, I don't deserve it. But can we start over...as Riku and Sora then go from there." The hope in his eyes was as intense as their surreal colour and Sora felt compelled by both his hope, and his suggestion.

"I can't forgive you for what you did." The hope began to drain away. "But, I can start over as Riku and Sora." He gave the older boy his first genuine smile in over four years and Riku immediately felt an immense pressure and uncomfortable tension leave his body. He was elated.

"SORA, IS RIKU STAYING FOR DINNER?" Ashe called up the stairs.

Blue eyes met aquamarine and without a second thought, as if by reflex of old habit, Sora called out in reply—

"OF COURSE HE IS."

Riku couldn't help but laugh. Only Sora could fall so easily back into step after a four year rift and make it feel as though nothing had ever happened.

"Hey Riku, want to watch movies later?"

He couldn't say no, not to Sora. He would have to phone Kairi and say "Sorry, something came up."

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=D Things are finally on track for their intended direction! Took long enough, I am sorry v.v. But I was determined to get back to this after Uni and am glad I did, because I enjoy writing it. :3  
I know it has been too long 'cry' but do I get...cookies anymore? Or reviews. Or Cookies. Or both. Cake is nice too. See you all soon! =D


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